Evidence of meeting #124 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 election.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Senior Policy Advisor, Privy Council Office
It would eliminate the notice:
that the counting of the votes cast shall begin on polling day as soon after the close of the polling stations as possible, or, with the Chief Electoral Officer's prior approval, one hour before the close of the polling stations;
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I think that's an inaccurate reading. This is just simply replacing lines 5 and 6 with this. The remainder would stay, so it's not replacing the entire clause.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Thanks for that clarification.
We are ready to vote on CPC-47.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])
We're at CPC-48. It's again specific to each advance polling station. Does someone want to present this amendment?
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
Sure.
These are technical corrections to the wording. Currently the wording indicates that you would have to inform the candidate as to the change of location. This just provides that the candidate has to be informed of multiple locations—not location, but locations.
Liberal
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Just because this particular amendment starts halfway through a sentence and finishes with another half-sentence, do we have some interpretation of its impact?
Senior Policy Advisor, Privy Council Office
Again, in the context where subsection 168(8) would apply, this is the kind of mobile advance polling station that we discussed a few minutes ago. This means that the candidate would need to be informed of the locations where that specific advance polling station will be going, but again, as my colleague Manon was saying a few minutes ago, this advance polling station would still be an advance polling station. My understanding is that this location would need to be disclosed to candidates already.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
The location would need to be disclosed to everyone, not just candidates, right?
Senior Policy Advisor, Privy Council Office
I think that this specific provision applies to notices sent to candidates.
Senior Policy Advisor, Privy Council Office
Oh, sorry, wait—it applies to everybody.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
We will now vote on CPC-48.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])
LIB-16 was consequential to LIB-8.
(Clause 120 as amended agreed to)
Clause 121 had no amendments.
(Clause 121 agreed to)
(On clause 122)
We have CPC-49. The vote on this will apply to CPC-50 on page 87, CPC-51 on page 90 and CPC-144 on page 265, as they are related by the concept of handling ballot boxes.
This part of the amendment just says sections 174 and 175 are replaced by the following, and then what follows I think is in the subsequent amendment.
Go ahead, Stephanie.
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
Essentially we are requesting that we maintain the existing provisions for advance poll closing procedures and the daily ballot box.
In the existing procedures, the ballot box is sealed at the end of the day. Under the new provisions, the ballot box would be reopened with the new votes would be cast into it. We're just concerned that the new provisions allow for the potential of more irregularities and give less control of the ballots.
We would suggest that if we maintain the existing provisions, there would be greater safeguards. Rather than reopening and closing the box, once the box is sealed, the box is sealed.
Senior Policy Advisor, Privy Council Office
The amendment described by Mrs. Kusie is clear. It would maintain the status quo with regard to the handling of ballot boxes at the end of advance polling days.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
The pause is now there forever.
This undoes the recommendation of the Chief Electoral Officer. We took his recommendations quite sincerely and made sure they were implemented in this bill, for the most part, and this undoes one of those. He or she should be the authority on how to conduct the election.
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
We've stated our concern, and it's a legitimate concern. If you open something and keep opening and closing it, it does leave it more susceptible to inaccuracies.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Is there any further discussion?
Voting on CPC-49 also applies to CPC-50, CPC-51, and CPC-144.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])
We have a new CPC amendment, and it's reference number 10008543.
Go ahead, Mrs. Kusie.
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
Thank you, Chair. This was rectifed under LIB-11, LIB-9, or something like that, because again it's not in regard to the requirement that the new elections officer write an elector's advance polling district number in the space provided on the back of the ballot.