Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 18th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

That's not truly a point of order, but Mr. Poilievre, if you could—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I'd like to make a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Certainly, let's hear them all.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I just note that the Liberals are taking a somewhat different tack from when they wanted to try this entire thing in the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

That's true--

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

They ground the whole thing to a halt and we couldn't have the committee meet for several months because they insisted on trying our party, with none of the normal rules of evidence, in this committee.

That's just a note that will be of interest to all concerned.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Had we done that at a meeting where we were looking at the supplementary estimates?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

If you'll allow me, I'll speak to that.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I apologize, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Poilievre, you have very limited time left. We are looking at the supplementary estimates. If you keep it to spending, that may help us.

Go ahead. You have about 15 seconds left.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

The relation, of course, is that this is a matter on which Elections Canada is spending an inordinate amount of money, and those moneys have to be approved by the estimates. It is therefore very appropriate for members to question how an agency has used taxpayers' dollars to lose awesomely in two different court cases and proposes to continue spending money at that rate. That is the link to the present-day estimates.

I'll conclude on that point. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

All right. Thank you.

[Marc Mayrand]

If I may, Mr. Chair, I'll just point out a few things.

First of all, we've been in defence on those cases. We did not launch those proceedings.

Second, the authority to spend comes from the statutory credit, not the appropriation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

All right.

Madame DeBellefeuille.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Welcome to the Committee. It is a pleasure to see you here today.

To begin with, I would just like to say that I very much appreciated the seminar you gave two months ago. I also was happy to hear from witnesses from across the globe who use new technologies to try and improve voter turnout. With Mr. Reid, I attended part of the seminar that day and I found it extremely instructive in terms of the strengths and limitations of these technologies. Since you told us that it was in your cards—

Mr. Chairman, I am having a lot of trouble concentrating because people opposite are speaking very loudly. Perhaps they could go outside.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I don't disagree, Madame DeBellefeuille. I have meetings going on all around.

I'd like to hear the testimony, so please let's keep it to questions and answers to the witness, and, if you could, have your little meetings outside.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I wanted to raise this with you, because we may have to take a position on these new technologies, in the short or medium term. I would have liked more of my colleagues to hear the excellent testimony provided by these experts from around the world.

I have a question about wages for election workers. You say that your difficulty finding election workers can be attributed to several different factors. It has been suggested that one of those factors may be wages, given that the hours are long, the work is demanding and the responsibilities are considerable. What are your current thoughts with respect to increased wages for election workers, and particularly, deputy returning officers?

[Marc Mayrand]

As I have mentioned a couple of times before the Committee, the expenditure restraint legislation imposes a wage freeze. That freeze applies to election workers' wages and extends over a three-year period.

In the recommendations report that I will be completing in the coming weeks, I intend to make that very point. I have mentioned to the Committee that it would be possible to amend the current legislation, but at the present time, a freeze is in place for the next three years.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

So a freeze is in place. However, it is important to have qualified and well-trained personnel. Wages are an important lever in terms of recruiting the right staff. I encourage you to convince the government to make an exception for workers hired by Elections Canada, because it is mainly in the rural areas that people have seasonal jobs, which means that for certain periods, they are on Employment Insurance or even welfare.

It is important for people to be able to work and be paid a fair wage.

There is also the matter of training. It seems you also mentioned that you would like to increase the number of hours of training they are given. However, if the workload and responsibilities of these workers increase—and we want them to be qualified—they will obviously have to be paid for that.

[Marc Mayrand]

Once again, my upcoming recommendations report will provide a series of suggestions on possible amendments to the Canada Elections Act and other legislation, with a view to facilitating recruitment, ensuring better training and offering better compensation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Sure.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

My other question has to do with your pilot project on registering over the Internet. As a parliamentarian, there is one thing that concerns me—namely, security and management of confidential data. We know that maintaining and managing computer equipment is a very big job.

What action have you taken to assure voters and parliamentarians that everything is in place to ensure the proper security and management of personal information?

[Marc Mayrand]

We are still reviewing the project. I would just like to point out that online registration already exists in two provinces—Alberta and British Columbia. There is also a service available in Quebec, whereby voters can confirm their registration.

Of course, we are looking at a variety of technologies. We are currently analyzing and assessing the robustness of the systems used in the provinces and elsewhere in the world. There is no doubt that one of our central concerns is to ensure proper security and have a reliable way of authenticating the identity of people who want to register online.

Indeed, that is one of the issues I would like to address with the Committee at a session in the spring at Elections Canada's offices.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Mayrand, I unfortunately missed your presentation. Please accept my apologies. It seems that the last time you appeared before us, you said that our returning officers and local directors would be re-working the list of polling stations, since we never know whether or not there is going to be another election. I believe you said that we would be asked to attend a meeting on this. I must admit I haven't had time to check that with people in my own organization, but I would like to know whether this was done or not.

[Marc Mayrand]

No, not yet. The exercise of reviewing polling stations and identifying new voting places is now completed. The next step is to validate that with parliamentarians or riding associations. That should occur in the next few months.