Evidence of meeting #32 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 recommendations.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Marc Mayrand  Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

11:05 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

I call the meeting to order.

Good morning. Welcome to the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs of the first session of the 42nd Parliament.

Today we begin our study of the Chief Electoral Officer’s report, entitled “An Electoral Framework for the 21st Century: Recommendations from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada Following the 42nd General Election”.

I would like to remind members that today's meeting is being televised. Allow me to introduce our witnesses.

From Elections Canada we have Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer; Stéphane Perrault, associate chief electoral officer; and Michel Roussel, deputy chief electoral officer, electoral events.

In case there are any journalists listening and for the public, I will set the context. It is that after an election, the Chief Electoral Officer for Canada does a report, and in the report there are recommendations. Those recommendations come to this committee. Traditionally, this committee goes through the report. There are well over 70 recommendations. Apparently, it took 25 meetings the last time, so it's a lot of work. Then that goes as a recommendation to the government to implement, and often much of it gets implemented into legislation.

Just so people are not confused, this is totally separate from the electoral reform committee. There's another committee making proposals and going across the country at the moment. A number of members of this committee are on that committee. It is looking at revising the electoral system to have another voting method.

This particular report is on the technicalities of the voting, such as how you appoint poll clerks, how you do ridings, whether you have electronic voting, and all the technicalities that would fit into any system of Parliament.

After we have the opening remarks, we'll go into the regular round of questioning. The Conservatives would prefer that. Each party should pick who's going to speak first for their round of questioning.

Welcome back, Mr. Mayrand. I know this is your last report. We've enjoyed having you here many times. You've stimulated us with a lot of good new ideas. I know there's a lot in this report. It will take us a lot of meetings, but it'll improve the electoral process in a modernized and vastly changing world. Whatever system we're going to have in place, the technicalities that I know you're proposing would fit in all those systems. We want to make sure that voting is fair and that everyone can vote as easily as possible. I know you have lots of recommendations to that effect, and we look forward to hearing from you.

11:05 a.m.

Marc Mayrand Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning.

I am very pleased to be here today to present my recommendations for improving the administration of the Canada Elections Act. The changes proposed in the report aim at building a more modern and inclusive electoral framework. I believe these amendments are essential to bring the Canada Elections Act into the 21st century, irrespective of any change to the voting system.

The report comprises two parts. The first part, consisting of two chapters, is a narrative that describes what I see as the most important recommendations and their objectives. The second part contains three tables of amendments. Table A covers the recommendations discussed in the narrative; table B offers additional substantive recommendations that would improve the administration of the act; and table C lists a series of minor or technical amendments.

I have structured it in this way to facilitate your work, given the number of recommendations contained in the report. I would urge you to concentrate your immediate attention on the narrative, as it covers the most pressing issues. You may even wish to consider reporting on this series of amendments before any other.

I believe we are at a critical point in the administration of Canadian elections. If we do not act to modernize several core aspects of our electoral process, I fear we will fail to meet Canadians' expectations in 2019.

Elections Canada is committed to an ambitious modernization agenda that aims to leverage technology to improve election delivery and services. Legislative changes must be in place well in advance of the 2019 election for us to fully realize these improvements for the benefit of Canadians.

The recommendations I have made to modernize the act are inspired by three main themes. The first is accessibility and inclusiveness, the second is flexibility and effectiveness, and the third is fairness and integrity. Before I address these three themes, however, I would like to make a general observation about the Canada Elections Act.

It is well known that many components of the act are anchored in the 19th century, when the first elections in Canada took place. While it has served us well over these many long years, it is clear from recent experiences that the electoral process set out in the act is showing signs of strain. It many respects it has failed to keep up with the times.

The Canada Elections Act is not a law that lends itself well to technology, for instance. It provides little opportunity to scale voting services to meet local and changing needs. It also fails to provide the flexibility required to improve the working conditions of election officers or the flow of voters at polling stations. This was obvious in the last election, with significant lineups at advance polls.

On the regulatory side, the political finance regime has expanded dramatically in scope and complexity over the last decade, and yet its requirements are still mostly met by volunteers. If these volunteers contravene the act, they may face criminal prosecution, as this remains the only form of sanction. This is out of step with modern regulatory regimes.

It is time to bring the act into the 21st century. It is possible to do so without losing any of the essential safeguards that protect electoral integrity and fairness.

A key theme that you will see reflected in many of the recommendations in my report is accessibility and inclusiveness. These concepts underlie Canadians' ability to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to vote and be a candidate.

Of particular concern to me is access for voters with disabilities. Canada has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which guarantees people with disabilities the right to fully and actively participate in political life. While we have made significant strides in Canada in recent years, more still needs to be done.

My report contains several recommendations aimed at removing barriers to the full electoral participation of voters with disabilities. Among them is my suggestion that Parliament provide a clear directive and a simplified approval process for Elections Canada to conduct pilot projects on voting technologies that would benefit voters with disabilities.

Many of these voters rely on technology as a necessity, not just as a convenience, in their daily lives. We need to explore ways to give these voters better opportunities to vote independently and in secret.

I have also recommended that parties and candidates receive a higher level of reimbursement for campaign expenses they incur to accommodate voters with disabilities, such as providing closed-caption videos or hosting events at accessible locations with sign language interpretation. This measure would give Canadians with disabilities more opportunities to participate in political life.

Another important group in terms of accessibility and inclusiveness is young electors, who are often hard to reach. Although the National Register of Electors includes 93% of Canadian electors overall, the average coverage of electors aged 18 to 24 is only 72%. Allowing young electors to pre-register with Elections Canada so that their registration activates on their 18th birthday would greatly improve the quality of the voter list for this demographic. Once they turn 18, these young electors would receive a voter information card during an election, telling when and where to vote and bringing them into the electoral process.

I also recommend that the voter information card be accepted as proof of address at the poll, not as a stand-alone document, but together with another piece of identification. Youth, as well as other groups such as seniors and aboriginal voters, continue to experience difficulties in proving where they live when they go to vote. Allowing the voter information card to be used as proof of address, along with a second document establishing their identity, would increase access to voting for a number of electors.

A final recommendation that I want to highlight under the theme of accessibility is moving the vote from Monday to a weekend day, either Saturday or Sunday. This would benefit a large number of voters who would not have to fit voting into their busy workday. Weekend voting would also make it easier to recruit election officers and allow us to use more schools and public buildings as polling places.

The second theme I would like to address is flexibility and effectiveness in election administration. Long line-ups in the last election, particularly at advance polls, frustrated a lot of voters. This was especially true when voters arrived at their polling place and were told they had to wait in line for service at a specific table, when election officers at other tables seemed to be free.

Many voters, especially youth, were surprised to see election officers striking their names off a paper list with a pencil, with no computer or technology in sight. The act is very prescriptive as to who does what, when, on which form and in what manner at any given polling station. And the polling station is, by definition, the precise table at which each individual elector is assigned to vote. This is why voters are required to line up at one table, even when others are free.

I have recommended changes to allow for efficient voting operations that are scalable to local demand; take advantage of technology; and, as a result, are less labour-intensive. Specifically, I recommend that while the act should continue to prescribe functions at polling places, the activities and the distribution of labour among staff at a site should take place according to instructions from the Chief Electoral Officer, instructions that are moreover public and known long in advance.

Other amendments are needed so that voters may vote at any table in the school gym, for example, rather than only at one place where their name is on the list. Providing election officers with a searchable voter database, as opposed to paper lists, would ensure that the controls prescribed by the act remain intact.

From a voter's standpoint, these changes would result in faster service in a more modern and efficient environment. And there would be two other positive outcomes. With the ability to assign tasks in a more flexible manner, working conditions for election officers would improve. Also, with a more efficient process in place, Elections Canada would be able to fully leverage the benefits of technology to electronically manage not only the voters list but other forms and documents at the polls. Computerization, when well implemented, is a proven method of reducing record-keeping errors. It would contribute to increasing the confidence Canadians have in the integrity of voting operations. In addition, I recommend that returning officers be given more flexibility in hiring election workers. As you know, running an election is a massive undertaking; it requires some 285,000 people to be hired in a very short time frame.

Over the last decade, returning officers have had difficulty finding enough qualified and eligible people to work. It would help if the act's barriers to the timely hiring of the best people for the job could be removed.

Currently, returning officers are precluded from filling many key positions until they have considered names submitted by the candidates and political parties who came first and second in the last election. While parties and candidates should continue to be encouraged to submit names of capable workers, returning officers should be able to fill these positions from any source as soon as the writs are issued.

A final theme touched on by many recommendations in my report is fairness and integrity. This theme is particularly relevant with respect to the political finance regime. The 42nd general election was one of the longest in Canadian history. Although the election date is now fixed under Canadian law, the start of the election period is not. This creates uncertainty for political participants and allows the governing party to determine the spending cap, which is now adjusted to the length of the election. Providing a maximum length for general elections would help to reduce this uncertainty and increase fairness for all involved.

Another consideration is the complexity of the political finance regime, which has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. The official agents of candidates are volunteers who work hard to meet the myriad of reporting and other requirements that are imposed under the act. While a subsidy is provided to auditors for their work, nothing is provided to official·agents. Granting official agents a modest subsidy for their work would recognize the importance of what they do. Tying the subsidy to certain requirements, such as filing returns within deadlines and participating in Elections Canada training sessions, would also improve the quality and timeliness of returns. This measure would promote transparency and encourage compliance with the regulatory regime.

It is also important to uphold compliance by means that are effective and proportionate. Currently, non-compliance is addressed using a criminal process model, where those who contravene the act's provisions are investigated by the commissioner of Canada Elections and, if appropriate, charged with an offence. They are then tried in the criminal courts.

This is a sensible process for the most serious offenders. It is slow, however, and carries a significant stigma. Many contraventions of the act do not merit such a heavy-handed approach. Several federal and provincial regulatory regimes now use a more streamlined approach for regulatory offences, which is to impose an administrative monetary penalty or AMP. Implementing an AMP regime would help to encourage compliance, furthering the important goals of transparency and fairness.

As well, allowing the Chief Electoral Officer to administer an AMP regime would permit the commissioner to concentrate on investigating the most significant offences under the act. To successfully pursue offenders, the commissioner has made it clear that he needs a number of additional tools, and I am therefore recommending them in my report. These tools include the power to compel testimony in the investigation of election offences, with attendant safeguards, as required by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

You may wish to ask the commissioner to appear before you to present his views on recommendations that touch on his enforcement responsibility. I also suggest that you invite the broadcasting arbitrator, who has statutory responsibilities linked to the broadcasting regime.

Mr. Chair, this completes my overview of the key themes and recommendations in my report. I strongly believe that federal election administration has reached a tipping point, and that action is required now to ensure we can continue to meet electors' expectations.

Lastly, changes will have to be in place well in advance of the next election for my successor to deliver an event that is inclusive, fair, and responsive to the needs of Canadians.

I am well aware of the number of recommendations that are being submitted to the committee and of the scope of those recommendations.

I want to stress that my staff remains available at any time to assist the committee in its work. It's also available to individual members who wish to receive a more detailed briefing on any aspects of the recommendations.

If I may, considering the scope of the report and the risk of disruption by extraneous events that could happen at any time and would take precedence over your study, I would suggest that the committee organize its review around the two chapters in the narrative, paying particular attention to table A. We would be happy to offer a technical briefing to the committee before it starts work on chapter 1 regarding the electoral process.

Upon conclusion of your review of chapter 1, I would suggest that you consider inviting the commissioner, the broadcasting arbitrator, and probably also representatives of the CRTC, as these three organizations play a role in the administration of our regime. Consideration could be given to staging reports, given the very tight agenda that exists. As various phases of the work are completed, it might be helpful to advise the government of your views on the recommendations so it can proceed as quickly as possible in designing a proper response.

I will leave that with you, Mr. Chair, but, again, rest assured that we are available to assist in any way possible in your work.

Thank you.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

Thank you very much. Those were some very important recommendations.

The last time we did this, you provided staff for a lot of the meetings to help us through the technicalities. Are you prepared to do that?

11:25 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

Absolutely, yes.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

Okay, great.

David, I explained at the beginning that this happens after every election. He presented us with three reports. We're basically dealing with the third one, which has the recommendations. It's totally separate from the electoral reform committee that a lot of you are on, which is another process. We're dealing with the technicalities of the election that will fit under any system we adopt.

We'll go to the discussions, and the first person is Ms. Vandenbeld.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Thank you for your presentation, for this very comprehensive report, and for returning to the committee once again.

I am pleased to see that you're talking about inclusiveness and accessibility and breaking down the barriers to people voting. I'm pleased to see the pre-registration for persons with disabilities and young people.

With respect to the voter ID cards, I know many of us saw that there were people—indigenous people, seniors, people who don't have a driver's licence, people experiencing homelessness, and some of the most vulnerable in our population—who weren't able to vote because they weren't able to use the voter information cards.

Do you have statistics or evidence or anything that would show the extent to which this impacted voter turnout in the last election and how this kind of a change would actually help?

11:25 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

We have evidence from the labour force survey conducted by Statistics Canada in October, right after the election. It showed that roughly 170,000 electors did not vote because of issues regarding their ability to establish their identity, mostly for lack of an address. It's interesting, because in that survey it also shows that 50,000 of that 170,000 showed up at the polls and were turned away for that reason.

That's the evidence we have at this point. We know from past experience that it has been useful for specific groups to rely on the voter information card to establish their address.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Of course, 170,000 is quite a significant number of people, especially those who were actually turned away.

Would allowing Elections Canada to go back to public information or public education programs be included? What kinds of programs do you propose, and would you be targeting that at some of these groups who face barriers in order to vote?

11:25 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

There is a recommendation in the report that seeks to expand our education mandate, which is currently limited to those under the voting age. I think there are groups of eligible electors who face particular barriers whom we need to reach, particularly during the election but also between elections, to understand better what their needs are and how we can help overcome the barriers they face when voting, so there is a recommendation to that effect in the recommendation report.

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

In addition to barriers to voting, there are also barriers that prevent people from becoming candidates, and of course access to financing, access to money, is typically one of these barriers, particularly for women and for other groups. Would your proposals to shorten the length of an election campaign, or at least not go to the length that we have had and also to add additional monetary sanctions, lead to more enforcement? Do you think that would lead to candidates being able to run, even if they don't have access to the money networks?

11:30 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

I think there are two elements there.

The regime for the administrative penalty is designed to ensure better compliance, and better compliance not for the sake of compliance but for the sake of ensuring transparency and consistency in the administration of the law.

With regard to financial barriers that candidates may face, you will see in the second part of the report, in the second chapter, some recommendations regarding, for example, child care expense claims and expense claims related to disabilities, so we would recommend that the act create some incentives, again by reducing those barriers.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Right now enforcement takes a very long time. I can think of cases in which a member sat for another six years before being charged or convicted. Do you think this option of being able to impose financial penalties for those infractions that are not of a criminal nature would speed up the compliance process and allow these things to go more quickly?

11:30 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

I think it would. That's one of the reasons for such a regime. I think it would be much quicker than relying on the criminal system, because we're talking here about an essentially administrative process. It involves elements of due process, of course, but it would be much quicker than a traditional criminal court process.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

My last question has to do with voting on weekends. I know that in the past there's been a proposal that if we vote on Mondays, we would have that be a national holiday so that people could go to the polls and participate in the election. We all know there are a number of volunteers who come out after five o'clock, and people vote after five o'clock because of their work schedules, but there are also a lot of people with precarious work schedules and other commitments on weekends, such as family commitments. From other jurisdictions or in your experience, is there anything aside from the advance polls and the high turnout at the advance polls, that would show that the turnout would be higher if we moved it to a weekend day?

11:30 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

First of all, there's the evidence over the last two general elections, in 2011 and 2015. For those elections we had advance polls, in one case on an Easter weekend and in the latest example on a Thanksgiving weekend. On both occasions we saw a record turnout for advance polls, and significant increases.

For the first time, we also had voting at advance polls on a Sunday in the last election, and roughly 25% of the turnout was due to that Sunday voting.

Again it's early evidence, but there is evidence that electors appreciate the convenience of being able to vote on a weekend or even on a statutory holiday. That's for sure.

Whether there is.... I'm sorry. I lost part of your question.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

It was about making it a national holiday.

11:30 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

Well, that's an option that I leave to your consideration. I didn't put it formally in the report, but it's certainly an option. Some countries have a statutory holiday.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

How much time do I have?

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

None.

11:30 a.m.

Voices

Oh, oh!

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

Could you mention which countries have voting on weekends? I think it's in your report.

11:30 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

There are 80 countries around the world. About a dozen of them have it on Saturday and the rest on Sunday. I could provide the list to the committee.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell

Yes, it would be good if you would provide that.

Mr. Reid is next.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON

Thank you, Mr. Mayrand.

I'm the only member of this committee—I think I'm right in saying this—who has been on this committee throughout the entire term of your service, and that gives me a chance to thank you for what has seemed to me to be a uniformly dedicated, competent, and conscientious period of service. I am grateful. I know that the other members of the committee feel exactly the same way I do.

I have to say that I'm very sad to see you depart. I've always enjoyed the thoroughness with which you respond, and in particular how you respond in your follow-ups when we ask you to provide us with additional material and documentation. Having dealt with many officers of Parliament, I think you are the most conscientious person I've encountered in that respect.

I wanted to ask you this, given that this is the last time you'll be appearing before this committee. On the other committee I sit on, the electoral reform committee, we will not have a chance to invite you back, given that our dance card is completely full. We have two meetings a day some days and we don't have any more space for witnesses, so this it it. I wanted to ask you, first of all, if you would be willing to come back in the future—once you've moved on to other challenges in life, as Mr. Kingsley has done—to provide expert testimony, particularly with regard to this particular report you've developed, which is unlikely to be dealt with within a year, but also with other matters.

11:35 a.m.

Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada

Marc Mayrand

Of course, I'd be happy to do so if the committee wishes to invite me again as a private citizen. Who knows? You may get different views.