Correct.
Evidence of meeting #103 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #103 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:25 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
Correct.
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I have seven minutes to ask you questions. I usually take longer than seven minutes to hire somebody in my office. I think most of us do, as members of Parliament—I hope most of us do. It puts us in a difficult position because the law says that the government is required to meaningfully consult with the other parties on officers of Parliament, of which you would be one. You had more notice than we did. You had a day's notice. We saw, in the Toronto Star, who was going to be nominated for the new Chief Electoral Officer. That name was then withdrawn with no reasons given privately or publicly by the government. Your name was put forward. I like you, by the way. We've had many conversations, so don't take any of this personally.
This is the process that we've been subjected to as MPs. We have to vote yea or nay to support your nomination to do the job for Parliament on behalf of all Canadians. I think it's one of the most important jobs we hire for here: the safe, fair conducting of our elections. Would you agree with that?
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
I certainly would agree with that.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
This is awkward in that we have a few minutes to ask you questions.
Let me ask you something very specific in terms of qualifications. There are certainly new threats since you started with Elections Canada some years ago, including foreign threats, foreign governments, foreign actors, fake news, and the influence of social media on our outcomes. Can you give us a brief description of what skills you might bring to the job in facing these threats, which, as we saw in the U.S., Great Britain, and other places, are significant?
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
Thank you, sir.
Indeed, quite significant threats are emerging in large part driven by the opportunities that technology provides. That allows penetration by foreign actors, in particular. It's an issue that is much broader than Elections Canada. Certainly we have a role to play. The commissioner has a role to play, and security—
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
What's the main role you have to play in that? It's the Information Commissioner. It's Facebook. It's Twitter. We have responsibilities as private citizens, private actors. What's the main role Elections Canada has to play?
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
Our main role is making sure that Canadians have the right information on where, how, and when to register and vote. One of the things we're doing at the next election, apart from monitoring the social media environment, which we did during the last election as well, is that we're going to create a repertoire of all of our public communications. If there's any concern that a communication is not from Elections Canada, or that it may not be accurate, we'll have, publicly on our website, every public communication so that it can be verified by parties, by candidates, by Canadians, and by the news outlets.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
On this proposed bill, Bill C-76, we're not sure....
Is it under time allocation yet, Scott? No? It's under the threat of time allocation.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
They've given notice to time allocate, which is interesting, because I'm just looking at quotes from my friend Mr. Simms that say that election laws should never be put under time allocation—never. I know. It's weird. So said Mr. Easter. So said Mr. Lamoureux, who likes to say a lot. It's also on record because the government is now in a position of doing what the previous government did on something so fundamental as our election laws, by taking a unilateral or arbitrary approach with them, rather than consulting with us beforehand. They didn't.
You had a deadline for new election laws to be brought in, to be passed. Was it the end of April, May 1? Elections Canada said, “We want the bill in hand, in law, in order to prepare for the next election.”
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
Correct.
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
It did not. We do have a bill—
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
—and what we are doing, which is somewhat unusual, is that we will start preparation towards implementation, anticipating its passage and adjusting as required, because I cannot take for granted, first, that it will pass, or second, that it will pass in the exact state that it is introduced, so—
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
As New Democrats, we agree with reversing the vouching requirements that were done away with under the previous “Unfair Elections Act”, and with the education component that was talked about earlier. There are some things in there that we want to see succeed. They were sitting for 18 months untouched by the government. There was no sense of urgency. Now they're rolled in, but now it's been rolled in as an omnibus bill, with other things that we do have legitimate questions on, like freedom of speech.
Let me ask you one about data, because that's an important thing that Elections Canada deals with. You give the parties a lot of data, the personal information of Canadians.
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
Correct.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
They are not.
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
We've recommended in the past, and continue to believe, that they should be required to comply with basic privacy rules.
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
The 10 basic privacy principles that you find in PIPEDA that are inspired—
11:30 a.m.
NDP
11:30 a.m.
Nominee for the position of Chief Electoral Officer, As an Individual
I think it should be in law. I think they need to be required to do that and I think there should be some oversight.
