Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 15th, 2018

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I think I would need to take a further look at it. However, one thing that should be noted is that during the pre-writ period, measures in Bill C-76 are only with regard to partisan-related activity. In the current Canada Elections Act, as has been the case for a long time, in the writ period it's any advertising, so there is no distinction between partisan and issue advertising. I think that distinction, in fact, is important to maintain, because as the Supreme Court has illustrated in times past, particularly in Harper v. Canada, the supremacy of the voice needs to be with political parties and political actors during the writ period. I think that is an important distinction to maintain.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Your colleague has a point there.

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

I may also add, Ms. May, that the third party intervention regime in the province of Quebec is quite different. At the federal level, anybody can be a third party and there are spending limits, but in Quebec, I think only individuals may intervene, and they can only spend a maximum of $200 or $300. It's much more limited than at the federal level.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you.

Let me try to fit in one quick last question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Make it really quick.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

We had been discussing a commissioner of leaders' debates, and that's not been brought forward. Do you anticipate the 2019 election will, therefore, be run by the consortium in the fashion that it had been since the 1960s, or are any further changes proposed?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

There will be further changes. I do have an intent to ensure that in 2019 there will be a debates commission and commissioner. I will look forward to discussing this with you shortly.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you both.

Now we'll go back to Mr. Nater.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Will there be legislation brought forward for that commission?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

No.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Why not?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

It's October 2018, and I will be drawing strongly on the recommendations in the report from the Procedure and House Affairs committee.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

You're not going to introduce legislation this late in the game for a commission, yet you're going to introduce legislation this late in the game for a massive overhaul of the electoral system.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

This legislation was actually introduced in the spring, and we're here today because of a filibuster, so....

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

It was introduced on the date by which the Chief Electoral Officer stated that he needed the legislation fully passed, after leaving Bill C-33 unmoved and unloved at second reading during that period of time—

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

This study could have started much earlier.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I want to go back to a comment that was made by our provincial chief electoral officer about the value of third party advertising.

He actually recommended potentially going with any spending being considered third party spending and needing to register. Do you agree with that?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

In the legislation, I think it is important to have a reasonable threshold. As my colleague Mr. Morin has noted, at the federal level any individual or organization is considered to be a third party during an election, and I think that $500 is a reasonable amount to have as a ceiling to be able to report. We have to remember that there are fairly onerous reporting requirements on third parties, and you'd want to have a certain dollar amount that could have a substantial impact on how Canadians are understanding the information that's coming at them. I think $500 is reasonable.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

His contention was that it's much easier to see spending, period, than a funny $500 amount, which when you are looking at online digital sales, is tough to see. I'll leave that there.

With regard to a register of future voters, the provincial example was a minuscule number of people on the register of future voters. How do you foresee there being more people on the federal register?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I think there will be. I think Canadians will be excited about it. We are very excited about getting Canadians on the future electors list. It's about encouraging more young people to participate, so I am hopeful that it will be one additional step in seeing a higher youth voter turnout.

Additionally, Bill C-76 also returns the mandate of the CEO of Elections Canada to be able to inform and educate the public about voting. Should Bill C-76 pass, I am sure that we will see much more engagement by the CEO of Elections Canada for voters at all age levels and for everyone who is intending to participate in our elections, which I think will be very positive.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Would you support an explicit amendment from the Conservatives to ban the sharing of that information with political parties?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

It would already be outside the mandate of Elections Canada to share that information.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Would you support an amendment to explicitly state that?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

What's important to recall is that Elections Canada only shares the register of electors, and the future electors do not end up on the electors list until they are 18, so that would not be necessary.