Bill C-465 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (identity of electors)

This bill is from the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in September 2008.

Sponsor

Michel Guimond  Bloc

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Oct. 23, 2007
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Canada Elections Act to require every elector to identify himself or herself with his or her face uncovered before voting.
The enactment also provides that, if an elector does not possess a piece of identification containing his or her photograph and his or her name and address, the elector may provide two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Similar bills

C-6 (39th Parliament, 2nd Session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (visual identification of voters)

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Canada Elections ActRoutine Proceedings

October 23rd, 2007 / 10 a.m.

Bloc

Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-465, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (identity of electors).

Mr. Speaker, we all remember the controversy caused by the Chief Electoral Officer's decision to allow voters to vote while wearing a veil. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I promised to introduce a bill to amend the Canada Elections Act.

This bill will require all voters to establish their identity, with their faces visible, before they can vote. The bill also provides that when a voter does not have photo identification with their name and address, the voter can provide two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer.

As we have mentioned, this situation is absurd and must be corrected through legislation. This is why we are introducing the bill.

In any case, I believe this bill will easily receive unanimous consent. I would remind the House that every party has indicated its support for this approach. Furthermore, the government announced this very intent in the Speech from the Throne.

(Motion deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)