Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Good day, and thank you for inviting the Canadian Federation of Students to speak to Bill C-31.
By way of introduction, the Canadian Federation of Students is composed of more than half a million students from over 80 college and university student unions across the country. My name is Rob Hepburn, and I am the national communications officer for the federation.
The subject matter I'll be addressing before the committee today is that most visible element of our representational democracy—voting.
Of course, with most post-secondary students in Canada falling between the ages of 18 and 26, the constituency I represent has the dubious distinction of having one of the lowest voter turnouts of any group in Canadian society. For that reason, it's critically important that the Government of Canada pay particular attention to the impact on the ability of students to access their right to vote when considering any changes to the regulations and procedures that shape election policy.
The specific amendments to the Canada Elections Act under Bill C-31 that would most affect students are those that introduce the requirement wherein all eligible electors must show either one piece of government-issued photo ID, with a current address, or two pieces of non-photo and presumably non-government-issued ID. This would apply whether or not one is on the list of electors prior to election day.
In the spirit of minimizing electoral fraud and improving the integrity of Canada's electoral process, these requirements make a good deal of sense. However, they stand to impose greater impediments to the right of perfectly honest and legitimate electors to vote, particularly those electors who tend to be transient, including students, the homeless, and lower-income Canadians.
These groups understandably tend to have a harder time maintaining the same address, let alone keeping the address on their photo identification up to date. Many students attend school away from a permanent residence for eight months of the year and often change that place of residence on an annual basis while at school. Keeping the addresses listed on their drivers' licences or health cards up to date at all times, as an example, is a burden that could potentially inhibit them from democratic participation under Bill C-31.
Because of the high degree of discretion that the Chief Electoral Officer is assigned through this bill, the negative impact that these new identity regulations could have on students' access to their right to vote will come to depend largely on the unelected electoral officer.
Proposed paragraph 143(2)(b), which allows for two alternative pieces of identification to qualify an individual as an elector, as long as those forms are authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer, I believe is too vague in its current form for anyone to say with certainty that students, among others, will not be unfairly disenfranchised by this bill.
It is the position of the Canadian Federation of Students that Bill C-31 should more clearly specify the forms and sources of identification that would satisfy the requirement of proper ID of eligible voters, and that the greatest consideration should be afforded to the types of identification that are easily accessible to those who do not have a static and permanent address.
Rather than leaving the authorization of proper forms of ID up to a single unelected individual, who may not have the ability to undertake broad public consultations such as the one here today, accepted forms of ID should be determined by the elected members of Parliament and authorized by statute. It will make a tremendous difference whether or not the two alternative pieces of identification can include college or university residence registration forms.
After carefully reading the bill, I haven't the slightest clue whether or not these would be acceptable proof of a person's right to vote under Bill C-31. For that reason, I think the bill can and should be improved from its current form.
Short of remaking the Federal Accountability Act in order to send the Auditor General's powers of review to the Chief Electoral Officer's democratic balance sheets, I would find it a bit surprising if this bill is enacted in its current form. The government would give such discretionary powers over the franchise to one unelected individual.
I sincerely hope the honourable members on this committee consider at length that this bill could have the effect of limiting the franchise for some of our citizens whose likelihood of participating in an election are already slim at best.
I thank you again for the invitation to speak here today. I look forward to any questions you might have.