Evidence of meeting #3 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was election.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON
It's not a bad point. This actually raises the next thing I wanted to get on to. I'm sorry to be so aggressive at moving my questions through here, but it's just that I've only got five minutes.
This raises the question about the mailman dropping the cards off at a location instead of putting them in mailboxes at apartment buildings. Is it an offence under the Elections Act, or is it not an offence, for the mailman to drop them off?
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
No, it is not an offence to do that, because that is not under the Canada Elections Act. But it is part of the contract with Canada Post.
I will say that Canada Post has been providing very good service to Elections Canada, and we do pay the prime rate for the service. However, if that occurs, I want to know, because they'll be able to trace it to the courier. What we do know happens is that some people just chuck the card; they just leave it there, and it may appear as though the postman left it there. But if a postman did leave it there, we would like to know that as well. We will pursue every one of those cases with Canada Post, and they know who delivers the mail at each address.
But again, that is something of which we've made a note, and I want to pick it up through this review of the use of the register. I do know there is an issue there that is a perception of an issue, and there may even be an issue in substance. We have to come to terms with those, because they matter. Part of what we're going to be saying is that we need more involvement by members of Parliament. That's going to be part of the answer.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Thank you very much.
Welcome, Mr. Kingsley and Ms. Davidson.
I'm sure the question I have falls within the purview of the commissioner of elections. I'd like your opinion concerning an allegation of voter fraud in a northern riding of Saskatchewan. I believe the correct name is Desnethe--Missinipi--Churchill River. It involves a colleague of mine. I'm sure you're aware that throughout the election there was a very close race between the Conservative candidate, who was the incumbent, and his Liberal challenger. The Conservative candidate, however, led throughout the evening--and of course there were updates throughout the evening in all of the major electronic media--by about a couple of hundred votes. However, the last poll to be reported was three and a half hours late coming in--this can be verified by the returning officer on site--and when the ballots were tallied, they were 100% in favour of the Liberal candidate. I think it also showed that there was over 100% voter turnout.
One could obviously make the allegation that there is some basis for an investigation. I recognize the fact that this does not fall within your ambit; however, my question is whether, in circumstances like this, the commissioner of elections still requires a formal complaint to be lodged, or whether he could take a look at this and say, you know something, I think we should call for an electoral review.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
He wouldn't automatically need a formal complaint to undertake a review of such a situation. He may launch investigations through his own initiative, depending upon circumstances surrounding a particular matter.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Okay. Thank you for that, and I have another question. I'm sorry, sir, and I know this doesn't fall within your ambit. I would suggest that perhaps at some time we may wish to call the commissioner of elections to appear before this committee, because there are a number of questions that really fall outside of your jurisdiction, and I don't want to put you the spot.
I do have a question, however, sir, that does fall under your jurisdiction and deals with a suggestion made by our colleague, Monsieur.... He is not here, unfortunately. He said he didn't want to boast, but I thought he should. His question was about having appointed returning officers. Rather than being something partisan, appointment would be based on merit, and we would certainly support that. As you know, this matter will be addressed in the proposed Federal Accountability Act. Our congratulations to the Bloc for making this an issue. I think it's a very worthy one, and I'm glad to see that changes will take place.
You mentioned that you had already started developing job descriptions outlining the qualifications required for the successful candidates, so I guess my question is actually twofold. Assuming the Federal Accountability Act is passed, regardless of when that may be, when would you be able to move forward? Once all of the job descriptions have been completed, and all of your work has been done, and once the act has been passed, how long do you think it would be before you could begin work on initiating a merit-based appointment process for returning officers?
The second question is what form of posting will you have? In other words, how do you plan to inform the general public that these positions will be available for individuals to apply for?
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
My office will be ready to implement this the day of royal proclamation. But I understand that the Governor in Council will have to approve this separately from royal assent. I'll be ready on that day. We're making the plans now.
In terms of disseminating information on the availability of a position, we intend to use means that are available to the public and that are reasonable under the circumstances. In other words, the job may not be announced in a national newspaper, but it may be advertised on the Internet, or in local newspapers. There will be something that meets the definition of public announcement in today's society, some means, traditional or other, that people use to find out about jobs that are available now. That's what we're going to use.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
We're not going to be inventive and use something that no one else does for the simple reason that we wouldn't be reaching people that way.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
In other words, your best efforts to make sure that it's broadcast and disseminated as widely and broadly as possible so that individuals will have an opportunity to apply.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
I would like all 97,000 people in the riding to know about it.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
I'm sorry, Mr. Lukiwski, you're out of time.
It looks like we'll probably have time for another round.
Monsieur Godin, you have the floor.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to tell you about a situation that occurred at the University of Toronto. During what is called advance polling, polling stations were open. They had three days to vote at the University of Toronto. Twenty-four hours before the vote, it was cancelled. The students were not at all happy. They were very frustrated by Elections Canada's actions, and they would have liked to have had an opportunity to vote.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Mr. Chairman, I have a very clear recollection of what I happened there. The approach the returning officer wanted to use was not in keeping with the spirit of the act and would have caused problems because there would have been too many people and the election workers would not have been able to control the crowd. We were able to set up, in accordance with the act, enough polling stations on the campus to meet the demand on polling day. What we did was set up advance polls on the same campus. Initially, the students were displeased when voting day was postponed, but they did have an opportunity to vote on the campus. There were enough stations to handle the turnout expected.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Earlier, we were talking about the cards that enable people to get into various places and about the fact that a person can register using an address on a magazine label. Let me give you an example of what happened to a young woman who was voting for the first time. I think that sometimes we stress certain things and not others. I do not know wether a mistake was made in my riding or not, but you will tell me what you think. You may perhaps tell me that this is the law and that it is up to us to find the solution to the problem.
This woman was voting for the first time in my riding. She left Grande-Anse to go to the hospital in Bathurst, because she had learned that her grandfather was dying and did die that very day. There was an Elections Canada polling station in Bathurst, but no one agreed to let her vote there. She had to pay cab fare to go back to Grande-Anse. She was crying during the trip because she wanted to vote for the first time. She had her identity card and her driver's licence. We are not talking about downtown Toronto here; this a place where everyone knows everyone else. No one wanted to do what was required to allow this young woman to vote for the first time.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
First of all, I would say that what she did is entirely to her credit. The issue is that no one would help her. You expect people to enforce the act, and that is what I require of election workers.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
On polling day, the only place she can vote is at the polling station where she is registered by her address. There are no exceptions.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Unless she has six cards and goes to very various polling stations.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
In British Columbia, voters can vote anywhere in their riding. We could consider that with you when we deal with this matter. In B.C., people can vote anywhere in their riding. We can talk about this, if you prefer this approach.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
It is just for a provincial election in B.C. In the case of federal elections, the act does not vary from one province to the other.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I would like to raise another issue, but you may perhaps tell me that this too is in keeping with the act.
Candidates seeking a party's nomination are required to open a bank account. If a candidate makes 200 copies of his election brochure on his personal computer without incurring any expenses, is it the act that requires him or her to open a bank account, or is this an Elections Canada regulation?
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
No, this is not a regulation. Elections Canada does not make regulations on this, nor the cabinet. This is the law. However, you raise an issue that I will deal with in my report. We should review the provisions of the act. I'm referring to new measures introduced in Bill C-24, which became law on January 1, 2004. That was the first time there was such a provision. You worked to pass good legislation, and I did what I could to advise you, but that does not mean that there is not room for improvement. We would like to deal with this matter at your convenience. This report was tabled in September 2005, but I was never asked to appear before the committee to discuss it. I think we should talk about this, because a number of the recommendations in the report are very good and would improve the process, including nomination campaigns.