Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 30th, 2014

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Those remain.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

So that's clear. It's not on the ballot. Your chair said that, and he was incorrect.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

It's replacing address with.... But what does community mean?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Scott, you still have the floor. Did you want to finish?

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Yes, and it doesn't have to be answered right away. I'm just wondering if there's a definition of “community” for this purpose. If I'm in Toronto, is Toronto my community, or is it...whatever?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

It's North York.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

It could be Toronto. It's whatever it normally was on your address. If you have an address, you have to say where it is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay.

Mr. Lukiwski.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I could make some observations. I find it interesting that the Liberals particularly would be advocating this, but I won't get into that political consideration. I will say, however, the government will be voting against this, only because we've had really little time to consult with our own people on this. I think the current situation is more than sufficient. I know there are a number of members of the Liberal Party who tend not to live in the ridings they are representing. I find that passing strange, but nonetheless we will be voting against the proposal.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I still have Mr. Scott, and then I'll go to you, Mr. Reid.

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

I had put my hand up earlier.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Oh, sorry, I did say you, Mr. Reid, and then I forgot you were there.

I'm going to you, Mr. Reid, because I'm just going to be as fair as I can be.

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

First of all, I just want to say how unloved I feel. I feel like Casper the ghost or something. I don't know.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Your chair accused you of making me invisible the other night, and I've gone and done the same thing with you. I do apologize.

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

All right.

The Canada Elections Act as it stands now says in paragraph 64(2)(a) that the returning officer posts in the returning office a notice of grant of poll with the name, address, and political affiliation of the candidates. Bill C-23 takes out the address. You're adding back in just the postal code but no further information.

Am I correct?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

It adds the community associated with your address and the postal code.

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

I'm assuming this is a more or less universal practice. If I think of the road on which I live, there are three or four houses that have the same postal code; I don't think it's more than that. So once you've put the community back in, you've put the address back in, effectively. It seems to me I could figure out where a person lives from that.

I'm just wondering why you don't just put the address back in. Why don't you just get rid of the...?

I assume that's your objective, right?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Am I on the speakers list, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Go ahead and answer it, because it will just make my life a bit easier.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I want people to know where you reside if you are a candidate in this particular election. Now, for reasons of privacy in the past, I realize you didn't want the exact address. I take your point that in some cases you can deduce where they live, but I think if you're going to give someone a general idea of where that person resides, you use the community and you use the postal code.

To Mr. Lukiwski's point, all parties have what we call parachute candidates. I appreciate that. I just think people should know. That's fine if it happens, if you feel that you can do the job here and you can still represent a riding that you don't live in, but I think people should know that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I think we have the gist now of where we are on this.

Mr. Scott.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

It's turned out to be more interesting than I'd realized. This is an example of something that I hadn't noticed had been taken out.

I'm kind of neutral on it, but I'm just wondering if on the government side anyone has the rationale for why it was taken out. Is it privacy reasons in terms of the address?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Lukiwski.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

A portion of that certainly would be for privacy reasons, but Scott's point...and we can agree to disagree, but the more relevant point is the name and the party you represent.