I appreciate, Mr. Chair, the chance to speak to support Nathan's amendment.
The reality is that people in real life don't necessarily know that they're living in the same district or have the same MP. They're voting in the same election but they're not necessarily in the same polling area. Certainly, Elections Canada officials have access to the database. They may not have a printed list in front of them of every elector in every poll, but they have access electronically to a voters list, and they can verify very quickly. I really hope we'll consider this amendment, and I hope the Liberals will vote for it.
This whole notion of carefully scrutinizing voters is new. It wasn't until 2007, I believe, that the Elections Act was changed to require a photo ID. This is a solution that's worse than the non-problem it addresses.
The problem in Canada has never been that people vote more than once; the problem in Canada is that people vote less than once. We need to do everything possible so that when someone comes to a polling station with the intent of vouching, and they have their ID and they live nearby but might not be in the same polling station, they're not turned away.
Thank you.