Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 7th, 2017

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

That's a really important question, and something for us to consider.

If I'm not wrong, I believe the Netherlands this past weekend confirmed that it was going back to paper ballots because of potential risk.

We do need to keep in mind and in our consideration that there are technologies that can help and assist people with disabilities to make voting more accessible for them. How can the procedure and House affairs committee look at some of those technologies and ensure their integrity to make sure that there's no possibility for tampering, so we know that those votes are integral, valid, and respect the democratic process?

I would definitely encourage the committee to take all of that into consideration as we move forward.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

One final quick question.

Again, this wasn't clear when I reviewed your mandate letter, Minister, but as you go through the review of cybersecurity threats, is it within your mandate to make recommendations back to the President of the Treasury Board for additional resources, should there be an assessment of potential risk to the integrity of data, for example, within Elections Canada, or within political parties?

Do you have the ability, basically, to give us the capacity to deal with it?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

If you would like to interpret the mandate letter as my being responsible for democratic institutions and the integrity of the system, those are things that we need to be mindful of and keep in consideration as we move forward.

I would certainly welcome the committee's perspective on those, and how we move forward. It's so important that Canadians have confidence in the system, so that when an election happens, they know they can trust the results and continue to move forward with it.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you, Minister, and officials for coming.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We'll suspend for 15 minutes and go in camera for committee business.

[Proceedings continue in camera]