Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good evening.
My name is Yasmin Dawood and I'm an assistant professor of law at the University of Toronto. My areas of specialty are election law and constitutional law.
Two weeks ago my colleagues and I wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Harper and the members of Parliament to express our profound concern that the fair elections act, Bill C-23 , if passed, would damage the institution at the heart of our country's democracy voting and federal elections. The open letter has been signed by over 170 professors at Canadian universities who study the principles and institutions of constitutional democracy, including 16 past presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association. This overwhelming and unprecedented level of support from democracy experts across the country is a measure of how damaging we think this legislation would be for the future of our democracy.
Our primary concern is that Bill C-23 would seriously undermine the integrity and fairness of the electoral process. Although we have multiple concerns, I'm going to focus briefly on four issues.
The first issue is on vouching. As Mr. Neufeld has testified to this committee, there is simply no evidence of a link between vouching and fraudulent voting. Although there are record-keeping errors associated with vouching, such errors do not justify the disenfranchisement of thousands of eligible voters. I would like to emphasize that the Supreme Court has made clear that incorrect record keeping of vouching does not amount to an irregularity that would overturn an election result. The charter protected right to vote is fundamental and may not be abridged on account of administrative mistakes.
The second issue is on the role of Elections Canada. Bill C-23 prevents the Chief Electoral Officer from engaging in citizenship education campaigns aimed at increasing voter turnout. While political parties undoubtedly play an important role in motivating citizens to vote, we think that Elections Canada, a non-partisan agency, plays a special role in reaching out to voters that political parties are less likely to target. Historically, political parties have not focused on younger citizens because of low turnout among youth, nor do they reach out to citizens who are unlikely to support them. We need a non-partisan agency like Elections Canada to reach out to all voters.
The third issue is on ensuring a level playing field. We are concerned that certain aspects of Bill C-23 create the actuality and appearance of a partisan bias in the electoral process. For example, Bill C-23 would exempt fundraising expenses from the spending limits for political parties. This loophole would increase the influence of money on politics, and it would be particularly beneficial for the party with the longest list of donors, which in this case happens to be the governing Conservative Party. Bill C-23 also provides that central poll supervisors would be selected from lists provided by the candidate of the party that won the district in the last election. This provision violates the norm that the administration of the electoral process should be strictly neutral.
Fourth is the issue of effective compliance. Bill C-23 fails to provide the commissioner with the power to compel witness testimony, an essential power that is required by the commissioner to effectively investigate electoral infractions. Bill C-23 also fails to require political parties to provide Elections Canada and the commissioner with receipts and supporting documentation about their election expenses. In addition, we are concerned that Bill C-23 would remove the commissioner's ability to speak with the public. Under the new confidentiality requirements of Bill C-23 , members of the public and members of Parliament would have no access to information about the commissioner's investigations into electoral infractions, such as the robocalls affair, unless charges are laid.
Finally, the process by which Bill C-23 was drafted departs from a long-standing political practice in Canada whereby electoral reforms were undertaken through widespread consultation with all the political parties and close collaboration with Elections Canada. We are deeply concerned that the unilateral process by which Bill C-23 was drafted will establish a new precedent in our country's political practices. Rather than providing a neutral structure for political competition, the rules of democracy will themselves become the battleground for partisan control. This political precedent will be deeply damaging to democracy as successive majorities in Parliament rewrite the electoral rules in an effort to gain a partisan advantage. We urge the governing party to consider the long-term consequences of its approach. It will hurt all the political parties and will diminish the strength, fairness, and vitality of our democracy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.