Evidence of meeting #118 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 information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mrs. Kusie briefly talked about educating new voters. You also spoke about new Canadians, or new arrivals. How would your plan to explain how they can exercise their right to vote be different from your plan for people who are newly registered on the voters list?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That's something we're exploring right now. We know that our provincial colleagues are also looking at new Canadians and elections. We're trying to better co-ordinate our methods for educating them. There are elections at the federal and provincial levels, and some newcomers find this process difficult to navigate. The provinces and the federal government must first co-ordinate how they interact with new Canadians.
Furthermore, we are targeting groups that work with new Canadians. In many cases, these groups are helping newcomers find housing or language assistance. There is nothing about participating in elections. These groups do, however, build trust with newcomers. If we work with these groups and give them the tools to educate new Canadians, it will be easier for us to reach these newcomers.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
Have you observed whether new Canadians from certain countries were more reluctant to vote?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I do not have any studies indicating that people from a particular country have more fears about democracy. As far as I know, our office does not have this kind of information.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
Okay.
Earlier you were talking about 14- to 16-year olds. We must educate them on democracy and ensure that they will vote.
When can you educate them and how will you do it?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They are the ones who will decide whether to vote. However, it is certainly important to educate them.
Young adults who are 18 to 24 years old when they vote for the first time tend to become lifelong voters. We talk about encouraging young people to vote, but we are essentially creating tomorrow's voters. We want these individuals to vote their whole lives, and not only when they are 18 years old. Conversely, those who do not vote when they are young adults will not vote when they are 40 or 60. There is a critical period.
We think it's too late to start focusing on them if they're 18 or 19 years old and it's their first time voting. We think we should start working with them in grade 9 or 10, when they are between 14 to 17. This is the ideal age. It's possible to start earlier, but there is a critical stage.
Teachers from across the country have developed the tools we have access to, so that they can be included in all of the provincial curricula, whether or not these curricula include civic education courses. These exercises give students a chance to explore on their own what civic engagement and voting mean. We do not tell them what to do or how to act. We encourage them to explore and think. We believe that this method will pique their interest. Unless they're interested, young people will not use the information we give them when they turn 18. We must therefore start by getting them interested, and then educating them, so that they become lifelong voters.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
Have you seen a difference between those who were educated on the democratic process or who got involved when they were in grade 9 or 10, which would be the equivalent of 4th or 5th year of high school in Quebec? Were they more likely to exercise their right to vote?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We don't have any way to assess that.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We're currently exploring how we assess, which is important. We are investing time and energy, and we want to know whether it has an impact. We are looking at whether it will be possible to measure this impact.
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.
On another note, I'd like to know whether there's a way to educate Canadians in general about potential fraudulent phone calls or misleading advertisements on social media. Have you found a way to combat this?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Yes. This is a multi-faceted issue and it is very important to us. Making sure that Canadians do not get false information on the electoral process—whether it is misinformation or inadvertently incorrect information—is at the core of what we do. We will start by launching an information campaign shortly before the election.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
We'll start with registration, in the spring. The campaign will evolve as the election period moves forward. We are getting information out all kinds of ways. That is the first thing.
We will also have an awareness campaign regarding social media and the misinformation or incorrect information they contain.
Lastly, we'll monitor the situation. This applies across the board, but we'll have tools to monitor what's being said on social media. We want to be able to see whether false information is circulating, especially with respect to the voting process, and then intervene to correct that information.
Those are the main tools we plan on using.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay, the last person on our scheduled round is Mr. Cullen, for three minutes.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Forgive me if you've answered this already. Has Elections Canada sought any legal advice in terms of the restrictions on the pre-writ period as to their ability to withstand a charter challenge?
NDP
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Normally, our role in litigation is to be as neutral as possible, so we inform the court and the parties how we administer the rules. In terms of whether they are constitutionally valid or not, the Department of Justice has a role to play. Others may agree or disagree and litigate that, but we are an agent of Parliament. So if Parliament decides to enact a particular rule, it's not for us to challenge Parliament in that regard.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I didn't mean the question in that sense. You are our in-house election experts. There's a natural tension within, say, the question of speech and fairness that you talked about earlier. Do we allow rules that allow groups or people with more money to have more speech than others, thereby making the determination for voters in an election seem unfair? Let me put it this way: Has the government sought any advice through you as to what that limit should be in terms of money, how long the pre-writ should be and so on?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That's not the kind of advice we would provide normally. They have their own lawyers for that. What I see as my role is that I won't cast it in charter language or provide specific advice to this committee or to Parliament. When I see concerns of fairness, when I see concerns that the regulator burden may be too much—which may have charter implications, of course—I tend to raise it in those terms.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
So the fact that you haven't raised them yet, does that mean...?