Evidence of meeting #5 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was voting.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Noon
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Certainly it's something that I, for one, would have liked to do. Unfortunately, you cannot track these individuals. Students move around, and there's no real way of finding out whether.... And it is something we need to do. We need to look at the long-term effect of a program like Student Vote.
We are looking at some alternatives to measure the impact, but again, it's rather tricky. Students move around, and it's very difficult to follow them through.
Noon
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Mayrand, I would like to speak to you about accessibility for people with reduced mobility, disabled people or people who are walking with a cane or using a three-wheel scooter to get around. Many polling stations were not accessible to these people. I have the following question.
When a returning officer chooses a polling station, is the choice of a site that is accessible an essential, important and unavoidable criterion? If the premises are not accessible, are there any additional funds available to the returning officer in order to install a temporary ramp, for example? In my riding, certain arrangements were made. Other polling stations were not accessible, and in general, my colleagues in the Bloc found that there was a lack of accessibility for people with reduced mobility.
This is a matter that is very close to my heart. These people are often confronted with public spaces that are inaccessible, but when the time comes to exercise your right as a citizen to vote, in my opinion there should be no exceptions. We must make all polling stations accessible.
My second question is the following: You said earlier on that it was not within the scope of your mandate to recommend changes to legislation other than the Canada Elections Act. For example, Mr. Godin explained to you that in ridings where there is a great deal of availability in the labour force because of the crisis in the manufacturing sector, many people on EI and other unemployed people would be ready to work. However, trading four quarters for a dollar, if I may use that expression, does not interest them and with good reason. Their benefits are reduced.
Under the Employment Insurance Act, their income is taken into account but not their contribution at work. If I work for 12 hours, the legislation does not recognize my contribution. They are not recognized as insurable hours. In this way some people can find themselves short a few hours. In my riding, there are two Elections Canada workers who were short five hours in order to be eligible for employment insurance.
You may not be aware of this, Mr. Mayrand but only 50% of the people who pay premiums are eligible for employment insurance, because it is a very restrictive program. Every hour counts. I wondered if this could be one of your recommendations. Since the income is taken into account in clawing back social assistance or employment insurance, could you recommend that, if you were to raise the salary of Elections Canada workers, those hours be insurable, so that they could count towards employment insurance along with the other hours worked by these same people?
My final question concerns the training given to returning officers. There are many new returning officers. This was true in my riding, and half of the staff were new as well. Do brand new returning officers receive any particular or additional support? Inexperienced returning officers caused a lot of problems in some ridings, as well as the fact that they were surrounded by new staff. We often had to provide them with information on election legislation in Canada, as to how it works, etc. Is there any specific training intended for staff at polling stations where practically everyone is new at every level, whether it be for the returning officer or the staff he has at a polling station?
12:05 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
As far as accessibility to voting stations for electors with mobility problems is concerned, the act sets out that level access must be provided. When that is impossible, special authorization from the Chief Electoral Officer is required. During the last election, out of the 16,000 premises, this permission was granted for only 37, for which there really was no other alternative.
Furthermore, Elections Canada has set out the criteria as to what constitutes level access. In certain situations, we will provide temporary ramps; in others, funds were set aside for the construction of temporary ramps. This is negotiated with the owners of the buildings.
You are quite right to raise these issues. I became aware of several complaints or of correspondence reporting on accessibility problems at times, but also on the quality of the voting stations. This remains a problem. I will no doubt touch on that in the recommendations. Given the timeframe, it is often very difficult if not impossible to get the first choice of premises. One must plan for several possible alternatives, and obviously they are not all of the same quality.
As far as the recommendations on employment insurance are concerned, potential changes to the Employment Insurance Act would no doubt facilitate our recruitment. This is something I would like to see and that I would applaud. I can make such a recommendation to the committee, who in turn could submit it to the government in order for them to make changes to the Employment Insurance Act. Employment insurance rules are part of a much broader context that I am not necessarily familiar with, but anything that would make recruitment easier would be welcome.
12:05 p.m.
Bloc
12:05 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Yes, it would certainly be one way of making recruitment easier.
12:05 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
You are right to mention it. One hundred and twenty-one new returning officers were appointed for the last election. There is an intensive training program for returning officers. When changes are made to the act, they are routinely called back in order to receive training on the new provisions.
There is also a support program for those referred to as field liaison officers. We grouped the ridings in clusters of 10 to 15. We found regional experts, who had a great deal of expertise in electoral matters and who acted as resource persons to the returning officers.
Obviously, we offer support services to returning officers. These programs are described in the report.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you.
I was seeking answers. We were talking earlier on about young people and what they experience when they go to university. I think you understand the problem. Young people leave home to go to university. Some keep their address, whereas others change it to the apartment they take in the city where they are studying. For example, young people leave the Acadian Peninsula to go to the University of Moncton. They take an apartment in their own name, or perhaps they live in the university residence and keep their former address.
Another problem is posed by National Defence and soldiers based in certain areas. Problems were raised in Halifax. I became aware of complaints in the Halifax region where problems cropped up when the time came to vote.
Another problem has been bothering me recently. I have already explained the situation in the past, but I will repeat it for the benefit of the people present today. In my corner of the country, many workers leave the region to go and work out west, for example in Fort McMurray in Alberta. These people do not have the opportunity to vote. Even worse, some of these people came back during the week before the elections in order to vote. They went to the Elections Canada office with their identity cards in hand. However, the act stipulates that one cannot vote at the polling station during the week preceding the election. These people were therefore not able to vote because they were leaving the very day of the election, at 6:00 a.m. And the people going to work out west do not number just two or three hundred, but there are thousands. That many people were not given the chance to vote. This resulted in complaints.
Do you have any recommendations on this subject?
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
The student vote is an issue that is raised during every election.
12:10 p.m.
NDP
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
At the same time, it is the group that participates the least in the electoral process. We must also point out that for young students on college or university campuses, it is their first experience with the voting process.
The act is structured in such a way that every voter must be tied to a riding. Those students living outside of their home ridings must do what other voters cannot do: they must choose where their residence is in terms of the vote. It may be the family home that they return to in the summer or the place where they live during their studies. The student can register in the riding they live in while they are studying. This riding is not necessarily the riding in which the university is. For example, students at the University of Ottawa may come from many ridings and temporarily reside in different ridings. Students must register in the riding they live in while they are studying. The other alternative is to vote by special ballot in their home riding.
12:10 p.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
How are they informed of this? If they only find out about it on election day, it is too late.
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
In order to inform them, we set up kiosks on campuses across the country. We send out electronic notices to the student associations. The report mentions that there were 600 community relations officers on campuses during the last election. We have a specific information campaign that targets students on campuses. But the process remains rather unclear. I understand that students would like to be able to vote on campus. But the legislation sets out that only students who live on campus can vote there. The others must go to the polling station that they are assigned to under the Election Act.
There is another problem with young people that brings me back to the issue of the identification card. Often, most young people who are living away from home and studying in various campuses have documents that establish their place of residency as the home riding, if I can use that expression. They have a driver's licence, but this does not indicate their residence on campus. For example, instead of mentioning the riding of Vanier, it will indicate Moncton as the place of residence.
This is a problem for young people. They have few documents showing their current place of residence while they are on campus. One of the measures we implemented for those living on a university campus was to accept a letter of certification from the university authorities in order to establish their address. If they have a driver's licence that shows Moncton, but a letter of certification for their residence in Vanier or on campus, they may vote on campus.
This does not solve the problem of the many students who do not live on campus or who are simply renting an apartment. The certification process to establish residency is not available to them. In the report, I state that for certain voters, we must consider accepting the voter's card as one piece of identification proving residence. It would be particularly useful for young people who registered before election day.
12:15 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
That's another problem. I assure you that we do send information kits to all the work camps. Are they posted? Elections Canada does not have control over that. Many of these camps are not accessible, and it is not always practical or feasible to go and check. In any event, these information kits are sent to the managers of all the camps identified.
You raised the issue of people who want to vote on election day. The act stipulates that if you register to vote by special ballot, you cannot change your mind afterwards. Even if the circumstances have changed, once you have registered to vote by special ballot, it is impossible to vote on election day.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
If Madam Jennings would like to give you her time, it would be fine.
12:15 p.m.
NDP
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
I recognize that.
Hopefully, if we get through all of the members who'd like to speak today, you could go again.
Madam Jennings.
February 24th, 2009 / 12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Thank you very much.
Very briefly, in the performance report that's been tabled, the estimates for the period ending March 31, 2008, at page 26 under key program 3--public education, information, and support for stakeholders--you had planned spending of $10,827,000. You received authorities for $7,194,000 and you actually spent just under $7 million.
Of the $3 million that you had planned to spend but didn't, in what areas in public education, information, and support for stakeholders did you not spend money?
If you don't have that detail now, you could give it to the committee through the chair.
12:15 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
I will have to get back to you.
