Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Minister, for appearing.
Minister, obviously this has been a bit of a controversial bill, particularly in light of the fact that prior to the Quebec by-elections we had meetings at which we invited the Chief Electoral Officer, Monsieur Mayrand, to appear.
I recall questioning Monsieur Mayrand at that time and expressing to him that we had unanimity among the committee members, that everyone on this committee agreed that there should be visual identification before an individual was given the right to cast a ballot. I know that since that time the Liberals have apparently changed their position, but nonetheless, at the time we met with the Chief Electoral Officer we had, I believe, expressed the will of Parliament.
In my opinion, at least--I'm giving my interpretation of that meeting--Monsieur Mayrand expressed his opinion that he would not in fact respect the will of Parliament because there was no proper legislation in place, even though the members of this committee, representing the vast, vast majority of all members in the House of Commons, said they wanted the intent of this bill to be respected and that all voters had to uncover their faces.
I'd like your comments on that, because I'm not quite sure why on one hand Monsieur Mayrand would say he has to respect the will of Parliament, yet at a committee meeting, when the will of Parliament was being expressed verbally, he did not seem to wish to act upon the instructions of this committee.
In fact, in the subsequent Quebec by-elections, there were a number of individuals who, probably as a prank or a bit of a lark, showed up, as you mentioned, at the voting station, one wearing a pumpkin and another some funny masks. I would anticipate, Minister, that this perhaps may be a continuing problem unless we have assurances from Monsieur Mayrand that he will respect this bill itself.
I have some concerns, quite frankly, with all due respect to Monsieur Mayrand and his office, that if he did not respect the will of Parliament as expressed verbally through this committee, what assurances do we have that he will in fact ask individuals to uncover their faces if they show up at a polling station in upcoming by-elections or a federal election wearing a Darth Vader mask or something like that?