Sure, I'll take a stab at that.
I mentioned only one of our concerns because of the short time period, but clause 7 of the bill, which is the one you're talking about, which will amend section 18 by limiting the information that the Chief Electoral Officer can share with the public, we think this is very problematic as well. We see no reason why the types of information that the bill includes—the where, when, and how of voting—couldn't be added to enhance what the Chief Electoral Officer is already permitted to do, or why we would want to have a distinction drawn. The promotion of political participation and joining in our democracy, the value of voting, which goes beyond going to the polling station and being told what you need to do—why would we want to limit that? We think that would have a very negative impact on the populations that the BCCLA works with.
These are people who historically have a lower voter turnout, and who we would like to see engage in more political participation. For most of these people their right to vote is probably the most fundamental and only way in which they can actively engage in our political system. So removing that power, we think, will be very damaging to democracy.