Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 7th, 2015

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

Yes, and especially, for example, if there were a surge in interest from electors outside. At the moment, it's only about 10,000, on average, who seem to be interested in the international register, but there are many more Canadians who might be. If they ever decided to make the next election the election to register for, you would have a big task on your hands. Is that correct?

[Marc Mayrand]

Yes.

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

Thank you.

Even if one assumes that the international register should go and that there should be this merging with the national register but you can't really register or apply until every election has been called, what could possibly be the reason for waiting so late? For example, the Americans have to do it annually, but as of January 1 each year, they can re-register for any elections that year. Is there any reason that you've heard for making the date of the dropping of the writ the only date on which you can both register and apply for a special ballot?

[Marc Mayrand]

Again, I'm not sure that I'm the right person to handle that question. I'm not sure what's driving this requirement.

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

Okay. I will leave that one too. Thank you so much.

I'll pick up on this in the next round, Mr. Mayrand, because I only have 20 seconds left, but to clarify this for everybody here, the government hasn't seemed to acknowledge the concern about all the chaos that new proposed subsection 143(2.11) could produce with respect to voting in Canada, because it changes the requirement for what is acceptable ID for all voters. I simply want you to confirm that this is the problem.

[Marc Mayrand]

Absolutely, and that's why I emphasize it so significantly. The new requirement with regard to the issuer of the pieces of ID applies in all circumstances to all electors whatever channel they use to cast their ballot, whether it's advance polls, ordinary polls, special voting rules, or anything.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you, Mr. Scott.

We'll go to Mr. Simms.

Welcome. You have seven minutes, Mr. Simms.

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

Thank you. I apologize for my lateness. If I touch on a subject that's already been discussed, please forgive me in advance, because I had two committees scheduled at the same time.

I'm going to follow off a lot of what was asked earlier, since they were a lot of my questions, but according to the minister, in that election period, the writ period, which allows.... As you know, they have to go through the registration process, the special ballot, and so on and so forth. The minister said that because it can be done electronically now from anywhere in the world, that should facilitate it in a much easier way. Would you say that with the mechanisms we have now, through email and so on, and how you are able to scan the documents and put them through to people....?

[Marc Mayrand]

We already provide a system, but again, the application now has to be prepared by the elector after the writ is issued. Yes, they can go to the website, download the application, fill it out, and scan it back, or they can fill it out on the screen and scan their ID and documents, as required by the registration, and send that to us electronically. It still has to be reviewed and—

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

So you've heard this argument from the minister, obviously. Well, I don't know if you have or not, but do you still have concerns as to the timeliness, despite what the minister might say?

[Marc Mayrand]

Yes, because right there, first of all, electors need to be aware that the election has been called. They have to take the initiative. Even though it's done electronically—I don't know how long it will take—they will have to fill out the form, and then the rest of the process still has to be done by mail. I still have have to send the ballot kit by mail, and it has to be returned by mail.

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

In regard to the international list of electors, I want to put this into an international context. There are nations around the world—many nations—that have allowed their citizens abroad to vote in their elections. Are you aware of whether, for the most part, they use the same sort of thing as this international list of electors mechanism that we're getting rid of?

[Marc Mayrand]

I must say that when I look at what's happening internationally, what I see is that it varies significantly from country to country, honestly. I'm not aware of any country that has anything that is equivalent to the International Register of Electors that we have in Canada, but again, they have other alternatives. In many countries, their foreign residents can vote at the local embassy, or consulate, or mission. We don't have that in Canada, for example. We have to be careful when we compare these things.

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

One of the provisions in here is that military personnel are obviously exempt from this. What does it mean to say that the military personnel are exempt?

[Marc Mayrand]

Military personnel are subject to special voting rules. They have their own rules that see the vote being administered by military personnel on the bases around the world.

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

Okay. Would their extended families—a spouse, let's say—also be available to...?

[Marc Mayrand]

Normally, family members would have to register in the international registry.

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

Okay. In other words, spouses of the military personnel have to go through the process.

[Marc Mayrand]

Yes, they cannot vote on the base.

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

All right. To me that seems a little unfair. Obviously if they're in the same household, they're there for that reason. In other words, they're military personnel abroad. Do you think that would be a problem for them?

[Marc Mayrand]

The approach of the act is to treat every Canadian citizen residing abroad the same way, so they would all have to apply after the issuance of the writs and meet the requirement of the new legislation, including having to prove what their last place of residence was in Canada, while for the military the place of determining where they should cast the ballot is the form they sign when the enter the service.

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

That's where their vote is cast? In that particular riding?

[Marc Mayrand]

Yes.

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

Okay.

One of the issues the minister brings up quite a bit is this idea of “riding shopping”, or being able to vote indiscriminately in any riding they choose, as one of the reasons why Bill C-50 exists. Did you see that as a major problem?

[Marc Mayrand]

Again, as I indicated earlier, once you first register in the international registry, the act provides you a range of options to determine your place of residence in Canada. Once that choice is made, it's crystallized. You cannot change it afterwards. You cannot have a place of residence in Canada for one election and then for the next one have another place. Your ballot will always be counted for the place of residence in Canada that you first selected.