Evidence of meeting #14 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bezan.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I don't think anything I said was inconsistent with what you just said, correct?
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I think that there is an outstanding issue.
It would be wonderful to have your opinions and thoughts on this, Mr. Mayrand. I see that we have two issues. One is that we had a letter that came from your office to the Speaker. What I'm interested in knowing is, by forwarding it to the Speaker, was it your intention that the House itself would have been made aware of it, or how do members of the House of Commons become aware? Or is it the 100% responsibility of the Speaker to do whatever he or she in the future might want to do with that letter?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That's a matter for the House to resolve. I'm required to communicate with parliamentarians through the Speaker. That's what I do in all circumstances.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
So as far as we're concerned, there could have been more than two letters that you have sent. We don't know. We just found out about those other two from media reports and so forth. Have you sent any other letters to the Speaker's office?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I did provide the committee with all the letters that have been issued since 2001, I believe.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Okay. Can you indicate how many letters have been sent to the Speaker's office since the last federal election?
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Two.
When we take a look at the timeframe, can you explain to us why it is that.... The issue that the matter has been resolved is, quite frankly, secondary. The real issue for me is, why does it take so long—the election was almost three years ago—before the Speaker is actually made aware of a situation where you ultimately have the authority, or the power, to try to draw something to a conclusion? It seems to me that it is not a timely process.
Would it be your opinion that we need to make changes? When candidates are not doing what is expected of them, do we need to change the system so that there is a more timely process put into place, as opposed to having to wait three years? Can you provide comment on that?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I think that would have to be considered very carefully.
I can point out that in some cases there's a genuine difficulty in gathering all the facts. It takes quite a bit of time. We have to appreciate that often the auditors at Elections Canada deal with the official agents, who are often volunteers who are not always available. It—
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Mayrand, I'm just concerned about my time.
Do you have the resources in order to allow for a quicker response in a more timely fashion? Or does it require legislation in order to get that timely response?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
The process involves an extensive exchange between the official agent and the auditor. In terms of resources, I think we have the resources that are required to handle it at our end. Sometimes there are delays, for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it's quite difficult for the agents to gather all the information that's needed, and that takes time. But again—
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
—it's an ongoing discussion, process, exchange with the official agents.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Absolutely, but three years is far too long. If you have the resources—and that's what I'm hearing—then the issue is that you need to have the power in order to enforce.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
You should know that when returns are filed four months after the election, our service standard is to complete the compliance audits of those returns within nine months from when they are received. We're already at 13 months. Again, there are some issues that arise from time to time, and I think that in fairness we need to give a full opportunity to official agents doing this—
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Were you afforded the opportunity to express your concerns before we had the substantial changes that are being proposed by the government today with regard to this issue?
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
When was the last time you had the opportunity to talk to the government in regard to election reform?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Mr. Lamoureux, today we're here on a motion of privilege. We'll have a lot of time on Bill C-23.
Liberal