Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 18th, 2018

[Linda Lapointe, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Lib.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to talk about this provision, the issues and the amendments. Some people have said they're afraid that, as a result of this change, residents of an electoral district where the House of Commons seat is vacant may wind up without a representative for a period of up to 16 months before a general election. The proposal here is to amend this provision so that no election to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons may be held less than nine months before a fixed-date general election.

Ultimately, there would be no by-election less than nine months before a general election. Consequently, a seat could be vacant for a maximum of nine months.

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

I read that.

Why propose this amendment?

[Linda Lapointe]

To prevent a by-election from being held seven months before a general election.

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

Yes, but why propose to change it from six to nine months?

[Linda Lapointe]

Because, from the way it's written, there might be no member for a period of up to 16 months.

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

It's the citizens in the riding who would suffer the consequences because they would be without representation for a long time. A by-election can be held in 35 days. There would be a member in the riding for nearly a year. Six months is something for a person, but it's reasonable before the start of an upcoming election. Nine months is...

[Linda Lapointe]

Currently, from the way it's written, it could be up to 16 months.

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

Yes, I know.

[Linda Lapointe]

With our amendment, that period would be reduced to nine months. That way we would ensure no by-election is held nine months earlier.

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

Yes, it's just that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I'm going to ask Mr. Morin to speak.

[Linda Lapointe]

That's a good idea.

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

I would just like to clarify two technical points in the debate.

First, no by-election could be triggered to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons less than nine months before a fixed-date election. However, a vacancy that occurred shortly before the deadline would result in a by-election. For example, in 2019, the limit of nine months before the fixed-date election would be January 21. Consequently, if a vacancy occurred before January 21, 2019, it would have to be filled by a by-election, which would be held in the spring or summer of 2019.

Second, this statutory amendment responds to a recommendation by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada concerning overlapping by-elections and general elections. In the 2015 general election, if my memory serves me, by-elections had to be triggered in three or four ridings. They were triggered very early on, in May or June, I believe, and voting day was the day scheduled for the general election. Those by-elections were considered replaced by the general election when the writs for the general election were issued. This overlap created several problems of interpretation of the act regarding the rules respecting the financing of political parties and the campaigns of candidates during by-elections.

[Linda Lapointe]

Thank you.

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

Can we get this brief from Elections Canada? Can you remind me of the situation?

[Trevor Knight]

The situation is much as was described. As we approach a general election, there's a belief that if a by-election is called, it will be called and the person will sit for two days, and then the general election will be held. Often, the by-elections are called so that they overlap with the general election. Then when the general election is called, the by-elections are superceded. That causes problems with the political financing rules in terms of mixing funds, transferring funds and that sort of thing.

As part of that, our recommendation was to try to give a period of time to recognize that at a certain point before the general election, by-elections would not be called.

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

The circumstance we're looking at is one in which somebody steps down six and a half or seven months from the next election. The by-election must be called under the law right now. That runs for, say, 35 days. Have I said anything incorrect so far?

[Trevor Knight]

The by-election has to be called within 11 and 180 days after Elections Canada receives the warrant from the Speaker.

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

Right. At seven months, it's the Prime Minister's prerogative to call that by-election, but the practice right now is that they don't call it within that 11 days. They simply wait and then, at seven months of somebody vacating the seat, that by-election rolls into the general election, does it not? Do we have practice of somebody calling it within 11 days and then running an election into the five and a half month window, and then that dissolving into the general election?

[Trevor Knight]

Normally they would wait, to give themselves time. There have been occasions where they get to the 180 days and there's a requirement to call but there's only three months before the general election, so they call it. There's a minimum election period at present but no maximum, so they can call it for a later date and it would be the general election.

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

There's a minimum and no maximum, in terms of the by-election writ?

[Trevor Knight]

That is the writ period under the current law. There's a maximum of 50 days put in place by Bill C-76, but under the current law, there's no maximum election period.

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

There's just the minimum point at which it has to be called.

[Trevor Knight]

There's a minimum point at which it has to be called, and then a minimum length for the election campaign.

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

That's under Bill C-76.