Evidence of meeting #106 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 elections.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Because of the survey and because of the partisan activities.
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I do not want to let my suggestions regarding areas of improvements undermine the fact that there are some very significant improvements provided for in the bill in this area.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Is there a part of this bill where it's only advertising that's covered, or are you satisfied with the fact that the three elements are covered here?
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
The three elements are covered, and in the context of the pre-writ period, there's a bit of a difference, and for good reason. In the pre-writ context, the advertising is only direct advertising. It's partisan advertising that says to vote for this or not to support this party. That's because third parties do all kinds of activities, and you have to be careful. It becomes very difficult to draw lines, and I think this is an example of a right balance.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Does that have to do with its being issue-related?
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Correct.
Groups that are out there that don't necessarily want to take part in the campaign but that advocate issues on a ongoing basis shouldn't have to stop just because an election is coming.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Okay. I appreciate that.
Mark, do you have questions?
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
You mentioned 50,000 people were turned away at the polls at the last election. Are those 50,000 people who just showed up without the proper ID, or are those 50,000 people that you have been able to identify as not having the proper ID?
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
This is a labour force survey by StatsCan. I don't believe that it allows that distinction. These are people who said they were turned away because they did not have the proper ID.
Liberal
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I think it's possible that includes those numbers. Yes.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
I'm sure this question has come up in this committee before, but are you aware of any widespread fraud that's existed from taking the voter cards and using them, other than one-off things that you may have heard of. Are you aware of any widespread activities to that effect?
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I have two points on that. First of all, I've heard many allegations over the years. Every time Elections Canada or the commissioner has asked to see any kind of precision or any evidence to substantiate those allegations, people have never been able to provide it. None of these cases were about identification, because the voter information card was not used for identification purposes, except in 2011 for the general election, and we had no issues there with regard to the voter information card being used as a piece of ID.
Liberal
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I want to understand how you audit both of those questions. Do you gather any data on people coming into the polling station and then being refused the ability to vote and sent back out? Does Elections Canada gather that information?
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
So far, we have not done that.
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We have thought about it. The logistics of running an election are quite complex.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
That's what I imagine. If somebody walks into the polling station, they go up to the table to see their name, they're on the registry, and for whatever reason beyond that they are then unable to vote, would it be that difficult if there were a form or sheet beside the people at the front table verifying, to say they turned someone away on ID, or they turned someone away on inconvenience of the line? I think in terms of the performance of our elections, at some of our polling stations waiting is not a problem and at others we've seen people get upset and walk away. Just for the performance of the organization, I think this would be healthy.
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I have mixed feelings about this. If you look at the last general election, at advance polls, you will remember there were significant lineups and frustrations. The poll workers work long hours with no health breaks at all, in some cases. We received complaints from electors who didn't understand why the poll worker was eating in front of them.
