Evidence of meeting #81 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 election.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Thank you, Chair.
We've had two provincial elections in just the last two weeks and one provincial election in October, and there's an election going on in Great Britain today. I'm curious as to whether or not you monitor them, even at a distance, as to the effectiveness of some of the changes they may have made.
11:30 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We do. Very often, we will have observers attending on the election day, or a few days before the election, and participating in what we call the “visitors programs” that exist for other agencies. So yes, we learn from each other, definitely.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
You're able to adopt good practices, I suppose, if there is something you see.
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Good administrative practices, yes, definitely, and sometimes we'll also get ideas for legislative changes.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
Thank you very much.
I think I'm on the list again if I don't have enough time...? Okay.
I wanted to have a discussion and ask you some questions with regard to third party advertising, both during and prior to the writ period. Could you give us a brief summary of the rules for third parties during a writ period, and pre-writ as well, in terms of what they can do in spending, and your tools in being able to enforce those rules?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Outside the writ period, no provisions of the Elections Act govern spending by third parties, or even by political entities, for that matter. During the writ period, if a third party spends more than $500 in advertisements, they must register, and they are subject to limits in terms of how they can spend nationally and how they can spend in any specific riding.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
Okay. What about if that were to cross the line into promoting a specific political party or advocating against a specific political party? Would it then be booked as a campaign expense for the political party being promoted? How does that work?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Unless there is a conspiracy or an agreement, which may be difficult to establish, they are treated as separate entities. The third parties are subject to their own spending limits.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
However, for our campaigns, for example, in my understanding—and correct me if I'm wrong—as candidates we must report any pre-writ spending that's done specifically to further our re-election, essentially, and that must be reported as a campaign expense. That's my understanding. But that's not required of a third party at all?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
The spending you have to report is the spending that may be incurred before the election but for matters that will be used during the election. That's what needs to be reported.
For third parties, it's spending that occurs during the election period.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
Is there anything you do to monitor...? Obviously, there have been media reports of large unions that have undertaken very expensive campaigns, with some of them are reporting as much as $6 million or $7 million that they're talking about spending specifically to promote political parties they're—
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Wild Rose, AB
All right. Hopefully I'll get a chance to come back to it.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
As part of your electoral reminder program and the means of communication you have established to reach voters before the general election—and here I want to come back to what you said earlier regarding online registration—have you found a way to obtain voters' email addresses to inform them that an election is taking place?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
The current Elections Act does not allow us to gather that type of information—either telephone numbers or email addresses. In an environment where technology is becoming increasingly important, Parliament might eventually consider that possibility. Email could in fact be very useful for reaching voters.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
We will discuss this later, but Bill C-50 will focus on voters outside the country. However, I imagine that reaching those people without being able to use their email address is quite a challenge.
11:35 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That is in fact a challenge we occasionally face. The public increasingly prefers to communicate by email, instead of by telephone or in person. That is now the mode of communication the general public prefers.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
So nothing is currently planned in terms of that.
Do you think this should be one of the changes made in order to better reach people over the next few years?
11:40 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That possibility should probably be considered. I think we will send 800,000 letters to new voters in the coming months. I am convinced that, if we were to conduct a survey, the vast majority of those voters would prefer to communicate with us electronically rather than by mail—where they would receive an envelope containing a form they would have to complete and send back. Unfortunately, the legislation is not up to date when it comes to that.
