Evidence of meeting #45 for Electoral Reform in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was referendum.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Mr. Dias, typically I give the member the discretion to manage the flow of the exchange, if that's all right. But I think we got your point.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
7:30 p.m.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Dias, let me ask you my question again in the hope of receiving an answer.
Surveys have been conducted. In all the surveys conducted in the past year asking citizens whether they are in favour of a referendum, the answer is clearly “yes” for more than 50%. The number is not close to 50% in the polls for your members and organization, but it is for the entire Canadian population.
Do you recognize that those surveys are valid, yes or no? That's the question I'm asking you.
7:30 p.m.
National President, Unifor
I recognize that there are valid surveys and polls, too, that say that people want electoral reform. They want to get rid of first past the post. Which poll do you want to use for your benefit? I guess that is part of the discussion.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Thank you.
I'll start my questions with the witnesses from the Canadian Armed Forces.
Looking through your brief, a line that caught my eye talks about the deadline for returning special ballots to Ottawa for counting. Counting must be taken into account. Do I read that you actually transfer the physical ballots to Ottawa for distribution, either if people vote at their home location or home base, as opposed to counting at whatever location? I am imagining a ship in the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific, or a base in Germany or elsewhere. How does that actually work? Are you actually having to allow that physical transfer of ballots and then get them distributed, or are they actually being counted and then phoned in?
7:30 p.m.
BGen Gordon Dave Corbould
No, they're mailed in and counted by Elections Canada.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
When you're talking about issues of timeliness and allowing members to maintain their knowledge as things evolve during the writ period, you would think that would be a real challenge.
7:30 p.m.
BGen Gordon Dave Corbould
The more in advance, the larger the potential of missing out on key debates or issues, although there is a physical dimension to making sure that the ballots do get back to you.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Can you give us an idea what kind of time frame? What would be the furthest out you would need for some of the more extreme situations that your members would find themselves in?
7:30 p.m.
Col Vihar Joshi
Currently it's up to nine days before. It depends on where the members are deployed. In Canada it's a little easier. It should be easier from the United States. It really depends on where the members are deployed.
7:30 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Okay. That's really a dimension I hadn't even considered.
Second, I can't remember if this was in the brief or if you said this was under the Elections Act that gives this kind of flexibility to our military members—I can't remember if it was under the armed forces act or somewhere else—but does any of that apply to family members? What kinds of issues do family members who are deployed, perhaps internationally, face in trying to cast a ballot?
7:35 p.m.
BGen Gordon Dave Corbould
They would fall under the same category as any Canadian citizen who is outside the country, depending on their time.
7:35 p.m.
BGen Gordon Dave Corbould
They are not associated with the division 2 under the Canada Elections Act.
7:35 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Okay. Interesting.
Are there ever any identification issues for the address, or do the rules in place right now allow the members to be able to cast the ballot where they want? Do you have any identification issues that have posed barriers?
7:35 p.m.
BGen Gordon Dave Corbould
I don't believe so....
7:35 p.m.
Col Vihar Joshi
Most of the time it works in terms of members casting their vote where they wish to. As I mentioned earlier, if you change your statement of ordinary residence after the drop of the writ, then it's not effective. In that case, there is a difficulty in maybe voting in the riding where you feel a connection and where you're serving. Members are asked when joining the regular force to put down, on their statement of ordinary residence, their usual place of residence before enrolment, so that should be the accurate address.
7:35 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Thank you. That was very enlightening information. Those are aspects of the challenges for our members who serve that I hadn't considered, so I appreciate that insight.
To the representatives from CARP, I'd like to get your thoughts on this. I think you said, or at least I wrote it down, that when you talked to your members, they had spoken about online and telephone voting. Did that come up? I don't think we've talked about telephone voting. It's been about online. Did I hear that correctly?
7:35 p.m.
Director of Policy, General Counsel of Advocacy, Canadian Association of Retired Persons
You did. In some of the qualitative feedback sections of our survey, telephone voting and online voting were both raised. I think it's especially important for our members who have mobility issues. Those were raised as potentials.
7:35 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
I imagine that would be like a phone tree system? Maybe you would have some sort of secure access, enter a pin, and then for the Liberal candidate, push 1, Conservative candidate, push 2. Is that what you're talking about?
7:35 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
Right: rotary or flip phone; but I'm sure your members are more advanced than that.
