Monsieur Mayrand, I'd just like to go the heart of the comments made recently by the Prime Minister in Sydney.
I'm going to quote him. He said that visual identification of voters is the purpose of this law. Then he said that it concerned him “because the role of Elections Canada is not to make its own laws; it's to put into place the laws that Parliament has passed”. Those are two direct quotes.
It's interesting, because, to many Canadians, Mr. Harper came to town as the new prime minister promising to break up judges, boards, agencies, and commissions that didn't abide by the will of Parliament. Here we have a succinct brief that clearly indicates—not at all in line with Mr. Lukiwski's comments about this being a literal interpretation—that you have made an interpretation within the four corners of the statute under which you operate. And now we have a prime minister who is publicly chiding you—and, I would suggest, possibly even manufacturing a crisis—because he's not happy about the fact that you're not interpreting the law differently.
First he says that we shouldn't have boards, agencies, and commissions that are simply blue sky and flying by the seat of their pants, or making new laws against the wishes of Parliament. You come and tell us that you in fact are bound by the will of Parliament. You've been perfectly clear as an officer of Parliament here in this testimony.
How did you react when you heard the Prime Minister's comments? First of all, he doesn't understand the act. And, secondly, he's telling you that he doesn't agree with your own interpretation, because it doesn't suit his own purposes.
What are Canadians to make of this?