Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 7th, 2018

Evidence of meeting #113 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 recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Bill C-76

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Leslie Seidle Research Director, Institute for Research on Public Policy, As an Individual

Nicolas Lavallée Strategic Advisor, Citoyenneté jeunesse

Michael Morden Research Director, Samara Centre for Democracy

Elizabeth Dubois Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa, As an Individual

Cara Zwibel Director, Fundamental Freedoms Program, Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Chris Roberts National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress

Paul Thomas Professor Emeritus, Political Studies, University of Manitoba, As an Individual

Glenn Cheriton President, Commoners' Publishing

Jean-Luc Cooke Member of Council, National Office, Green Party of Canada

Clerk of the Committee Mr. Andrew Lauzon

1 p.m.

Liberal

Filomena Tassi Liberal Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON

I was very interested in your comments with respect to targeting. I know it's difficult, but I wonder whether you can give me a little bit of clarification on it.

You spoke about the importance of having certain groups, for example, young people and those with disabilities. We want to encourage voter participation and turnout, but you also cautioned against this targeting. There's not much time left now. Could you briefly summarize how you would bridge this and get increased voter participation without going so far as to target in terms that you think are not acceptable?

1 p.m.

Professor Emeritus, Political Studies, University of Manitoba, As an Individual

Dr. Paul Thomas

I didn't say that very well. Let me clarify.

Elections Canada can't get into the business of exhorting people to get out and vote. They can tell them what the requirements for voting are, how to vote, and the convenience factor about alternative ways of voting, such as voting from the home, for example. I think a missing ingredient in this bill is enabling long-term care facility staff to vouch for residents within their facilities. That kind of thing goes on, and it has to.

I think Elections Canada would entangle itself in controversy if it said that its job is to bring up the turnout among young Canadians. Political parties will see that as favouring some parties and not others. It therefore has to be across the board, but as I said, the logistics of doing it will take some extra effort with some segments of the voting population.

It's a tricky line to draw.

1 p.m.

Liberal

Filomena Tassi Liberal Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON

Thank you.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

Thank you very much.

This was another great panel. Thank you all for coming and providing some new perspectives for us. We really appreciate it.

Turning to committee business, right after QP we have three panels. The first two have four witnesses each, and the last panel, from 5:30 to 6:30, is with Twitter and Facebook, which is very exciting.

Then we don't have anything for Monday on the schedule at the moment. We have to do some committee business some time, so I could suggest Monday afternoon, if no one has any other suggestions, because Nathan can't be here Monday morning.

1 p.m.

Liberal