Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that there is work to be done to make sure that the voters list is more accurate, more up to date, so that the voter identification cards are correct. It's up to the citizens themselves to try to correct that information on the list. But given that there are possibilities there are deficiencies and so on doesn't mean we should throw out the process all together.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So oaths are used—as in the case of passports—or voter cards. Today is an election day in Quebec. I voted this morning. They accepted my voter identification card. I tested it myself. I don't see why the card could not be used in Canada if it can be used in a province.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Our members are even more engaged than that and they practically all vote. So when it comes to voting, they've had no difficulty doing it. If they use the voter identification card, it could be simply that the people there accepted it and didn't ask for something else. In any event, they are not going to be the people who specifically have difficulty voting.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We did not ask that specific question, because we were concerned with the people who needed the extraordinary measure of either using the vouching.... And frankly, they don't look at the voter identification card as extraordinary. They just thought, “The government sent this to me, and they have my name and address correct, so I'm going to bring it to the polling office.” I'm sure they didn't have any greater concern about it, other than that it was convenient and was enough to prove their right to vote.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So there's a really good argument that goes in the opposite direction of what the government is doing. We ought to be looking at the idea of a voter identification card that uses the resources of databases to help people so that they can actually go in and as easily as possible vote. Just again, is there any further testimony you can give to show the damage of denying the VIC card during the election process and conversely how much it would help if that card could be used as the piece of ID with address, even if you needed another piece to show name and photo?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Finally, I heard Peter Dinsdale address the voter identification card issue in his closing comments in response to a question. He thought we should allow it to be used as a tool.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  For me, it's not clear why we can't work on the other social exclusion issues that result in first nations not participating, and at the same time not put up new barriers to voting such as the voter identification card and other tools.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I wanted to spend a moment, if I could, dealing with the specifics of the use of the voter information card. I repeat, of course, that it's the voter information card not the voter identification card, an important distinction. What in fact occurred in the 2011 general election is discussed on page 36 of the Chief Electoral Officer's report on that election, which I have in my hand, and which of course was distributed to all members of Parliament.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Anyway, that is not what they were fighting for, to see institutions eroded, but enough of that editorial comment. On to my second point of voter identification cards. Please keep them. Seniors are used to using them, used to seeing them in the mailbox, and used to using them at the polling stations. It is rare, if at all, that you would find a senior going in with a fraudulent voting card.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The third thing, of course, is that the government itself, the state or the federal government, produces no-cost voter identification cards, laminated, with a photo and fingerprint. In countries like India, which have had large-scale fraud and where it's a real problem, the election management body has a responsibility to produce these.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So you think that something similar to the voter identification card on a national basis would serve as an alternative. One example that was talked about concerned the Australian method. The Australian method, of course, is that if you don't have any ID, you vote but you provide an oath in writing, and it is sealed with the ballot and checked at a later date.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Brown, you responded to a few questions of my colleague Madame Latendresse about the NDP's Freudian slip, whereby they constantly refer to the VIC as the “voter identification card”. That's not what it is. It's actually called the “voter information card”, and it is sent to voters who are on the official list of electors. You had some concerns that particularly people with some struggles or issues might not have identification that they would have to pay for to use when voting.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  With specific reference to clause 18 of the bill and the power of Elections Canada to encourage youth voter turnout, do you think that other provisions in Bill C-23—such as the one about the use of voter identification cards, which were accessible only to students in the last election—could also undermine the participation of young people in the electoral process if this possibility was removed?

Offshore Health and Safety Act  When asked how many people were charged since Confederation with fraudulent use of voter identification cards and voter fraud, the answer is zero. The government cannot come up with any examples. Oh, it does have examples it makes up. I know that the member for Mississauga—Streetsville brought up some facts that he had to retract because they were false.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I know of one particular senior in my riding who lives in a home, and the only way that she was enfranchised or able to vote was because of her voter identification card. The minister cites health cards. In our province, there is no address on that card. All of the ID he cites—well over 30, the very basic ID, with the exception, of course, of a driver's licence, which this woman does not have—disenfranchises her, and now, for the first time since Confederation in Newfoundland and Labrador, she cannot vote, period.