Procedure and House Affairs committee  When we first brought the lawsuit there was an option to change the rules. Also, Megan Leslie, an MP, introduced a private member's bill asking for the five-year rule to be stricken. There were opportunities along the way to make it possible and available for expatriate Canadians

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I find the response disappointing. It seems to me, again, that it is an attempt to make voting more difficult for newly enfranchised expatriate Canadians. That is my reading of what this bill is about. The previous system, as I understood it, and bas

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Is it appropriate for the government to be doing Bill C-50?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not a constitutional expert. To me it feels to be doing an end-run. It seems inappropriate to me.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It seems that their system is much more geared and willing to accommodate expat voters than the Canadian system is, and is shaping up to be with this legislation.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would agree with that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I find no encouragement in this legislation. I see it as an attempt to make voting more difficult. I would have to study the nitty gritty of it in much more detail. Again, I read through it closely a couple of times. There are parts of it in terms of the requirements for identi

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Are you asking me to look for a rationale for this legislation?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't see a good one. It doesn't seem to help voters like me participate in the system. A cynical person might see this as an attempt to work alongside the court battle that is currently ongoing to maintain the disenfranchised status of expat Canadians. The legislation says i

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would want to study the proposal in detail. I'm not good at answering yes or no to hypothetical issues. I would want to know how it works for those countries, so I would have to do a lot more study before I could give you an informed answer. In theory, if it works well, if it

Procedure and House Affairs committee  When I was applying for the ballot previously, the mail system was incredibly slow. I lived in Rhode Island at the time. You could send something from Toronto to Rhode Island and it might arrive in a day, it might arrive in a week, it might arrive in three weeks. It was unpredict

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I suspect it would expedite it significantly. It would probably reduce costs to expats abroad as well, so I think that would be a start. The biggest impediment is the narrow time window. I think I just heard the ambassador from France describing the registration as ongoing. When

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, Professor Frank is fine.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. In March 2011, I learned that I was no longer eligible to vote when I attempted to obtain a special ballot through the Elections Canada website. I discovered that because I had lived o