Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 17th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We can do it.

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

If the committee is willing.... I imagine it will be a long debate, because it will lead us to saying yes to my amendment, but if you think it's relatively quickly that you're going to come to yes, I'm prepared to do it now.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

You're holding our dinners hostage. Is that what you're saying?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

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

I'm saying that the depths of the venality of the Green Party have yet to be tested.

I'm in your hands, Mr. Chair. I won't stay after this amendment. Honestly, I think this is the amendment I care the most about, and for the rest of the evening I can bugger off.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

You can just listen to us on CPAC.

I mean ParlVu—excuse me—not CPAC.

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

Sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I'll go for a few minutes here, and if it drags on, we'll break.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Is it exceptionally rude if we eat while we're listening to her?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes, we may get to that.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

It depends upon what you're eating.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Do the officials have any comments on the subamendment? Does it solve the problem of having to put out the address and everything?

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

Am I right that the amendment would replace subsection 477.59(1) by subsections 477.59(3) and (4)?

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

That's correct.

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

Okay.

Well, this is a policy decision, but from an operational perspective, 338 electoral districts times six, seven, or eight candidates represents thousands of candidates, and these represent thousands of documents.

I must remind the committee that these documents are already public documents pursuant to section 541 of the Canada Elections Act and can be consulted upon request at Elections Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

—where they can see the addresses?

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

No, this is about supporting documents. This is about receipts from bank accounts—

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay.

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

From an operational perspective, all of these documents would need to be translated and would need to be made available in an available format for persons with disabilities.

I'm not saying that making something available in an accessible format is a burden; I'm just saying that in this case, these are invoices and bank accounts, and....

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I can sense where we're going to go here, but Mr. Cullen and Mr. Nater may speak briefly.

Mr. Nater.

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

I just have a brief question.

If the documents are already public documents, how would someone from, say, Dawson City get access to these documents?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

That's a good choice of reference. It's in the most beautiful riding in the country.

[Robert Sampson]

Under section 541 you can request.... The provision is actually drafted such that you need to come to the Chief Electoral Officer's office. In practice, that is available, but we also make documents available for people who cannot come to the office.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Do they physically have to come?

[Robert Sampson]

That is what the act requires, but we do have this facility. If someone wishes to come to our office, we will provide the documents that way, but in instances in which people cannot come, we have provided them by a new electronic format.