Under the Quebec legislation, someone who is 88 years old might not have a driver's licence anymore or never had one, but he or she probably has a health card. We also accept the Canadian passport. Fifteen percent of people have a passport. We also accept any other card with photo ID. This means any other photo identification issued by the government. This way, we put all the chances on our side.
I fully agree with Mr. Hill's comments. We should not leave this responsibility to scrutineers since under our system they are not agents appointed by the returning officer but election agents appointed from lists submitted by the party. It could turn out that a scrutineer appointed by a given party systematically sends people to attestation, which could penalize some other party.
It has to be clear in the act. In his advertising, the Chief Electoral Officers can make voters aware that the voter card will not be sufficient and that they need to show photo identification, but that they could still vote since there will be a process for swearing an oath as to one's identity. If the message is clear, the responsibility will not rest solely on the scrutineer who might sometimes be embarrassed to ask a voter to swear an oath to establish his or her identity. This scrutineer might be accused by others of systematically delaying the vote if there is a line-up at the identification table. It has to be clear in the act.
Contrary to what Mr. Kingsley might think, everybody recognizes in 2006 that the voter card is an outdated system that facilitates fraud. Whether the Chief Electoral Officer places that card in a sealed or a scented envelope will change absolutely nothing.