Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 16th, 2017

[Stéphane Perrault]

As the law now stands, any amount of money that is not reimbursable and that is provided to a political party is a contribution under the act. I do know that in the CEO's recommendations there is a recommendation, not for parties but for candidates, to look at exceptions when there is a dispute regarding the campaign so that financial assistance for the cost of litigation may be outside the limits that are currently in the act in terms of expenses. But that recommendation does not deal with political parties.

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

Thank you.

Just to assist us, would you be able to draw that particular recommendation—I gather that's a recommendation that Elections Canada has made—to the attention of the clerk so he could provide it to all of us? It doesn't have to happen right now; it can happen at any time in the future.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Absolutely.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

You have about 30 seconds, Mr. Reid.

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

I'll wait until the next round. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

No problem.

We'll then move to Mr. Dusseault for five minutes.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here.

First, I want to follow up on what you said in 2016 or 2017. Perhaps it was Mr. Mayrand, but the Chief Electoral Officer indicated that the audits and reimbursements for candidates in the 42nd election would be completed by the end of August 2017, which means in a few months.

Can you update the committee on the progress of this case? What about the finalization of all the reports and the reimbursement of candidates? Can you comment on the compliance rate in the 338 constituencies? Have all the many candidates completed the process in relation to the Elections Canada rules?

[Stéphane Perrault]

I'm not sure that I can answer all your questions, but I'll answer some of them.

During the election, there were 1,800 candidates, which is more than usual. The spending was also much higher than usual, because the limits were more than doubled given the duration of the election campaign. Our goal was to finish by mid-August 2017. At that time, we should be almost finished. The people in charge of some campaigns may still have documents to provide.

We've almost finished the reimbursements. We still need to hold discussions on reimbursements for eight campaigns. We've started working with the people in charge of campaigns for which we're owed money. When a candidate has received 10% of the votes, the person is entitled to an initial reimbursement amounting to 15% of the limit. In some cases, given the expenses, this amount is more than the final reimbursement. We're currently collecting overpayments.

Initially, 408 candidates received overpayments. We've collected the money owed by 338 of them. We're currently finalizing this. The work will probably be completed this spring or over the summer.

Afterward, we must take care of the campaigns that involved very little spending. This should be marginal, and we should complete the review by the end of August.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

My other question concerns the legislative changes that I assume are in the process of being adopted. I know we can't make assumptions regarding the results of a vote in the House. However, have you planned any extra spending in light of the legislative changes that will be adopted? Along with the changes currently before the House, other changes could follow in the next year, we hope in time for the election in 2019. Have you planned anything in the 2017-18 main estimates to adapt to these legislative changes?

[Stéphane Perrault]

That's an excellent question.

Obviously, we don't know the scope of the different bills. There seems to be three government bills. We intend to make a submission to the Treasury Board to make sure we have the resources needed to meet the new demands resulting from the legislation. We'll start our work in the summer. We've started looking at this, but we'll work with the Treasury Board Secretariat.

I must add that we currently have needs resulting from different factors. For example, our resources haven't increased since 2008. We've also had to serve 38 additional constituencies. Legislative changes have been made. We're currently under some pressure, and certainly we'll be under more pressure as a result of the legislative changes that will be adopted. Over time, as we become familiar with the scope of the bill, we'll be better able to determine the additional resources required. In due course, we can make a submission to the Treasury Board.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

That's fine.

I now want to talk about something that attracted my attention in the 2017-18 program activities. Regarding the “electoral engagement” category, I don't have the exact definition, and I'm not sure what it means. However, I see there was a $500,000 increase between 2016-17 and 2017-18. Can you explain the increase from $8,723,000 to $9,279,000? Can you comment on this aspect of the 2017-18 main estimates, meaning the $500,000 increase in terms of electoral engagement?

What does “electoral engagement” mean?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Regarding the increase, I'll ask my colleague Mr. St-Pierre to answer the question.

[Hughes St-Pierre, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Internal Services, Elections Canada]

Thank you.

Basically, the variations you noted between this year's program amounts and the amounts in previous years are the result of a certain number of projects we're undertaking.

Regarding electoral engagement, different activities will be undertaken. These will be time-limited activities, in the form of projects to support engagement. There will be some research activities to support the committee's work. We're also reviewing our civic education program. These are the expenses reflected. It's a collection of small expenses. I can't think of an activity resulting in a major expense.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you.

On the—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

Thank you.

The time for the round has expired.

We will move now to Ms. Tassi for five minutes.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Perrault, for your testimony today and excellent responses to the questions.

I have one area of questioning that I would like to focus on, and that's the youth vote. You mentioned in your testimony the importance of getting younger people at least on notice and on the record, and then following up and getting them to vote.

I had the amazing experience, when I voted this time around, of voting on a campus that was located in my riding. I take it that it was a pilot project. It was very easy. It encouraged students on campus to be aware that an election was on. There was a lot of education going on at the campus. I think it was a fantastic experience all around in terms of student awareness and engagement.

My question relates to moving forward on these particular pilots that were run. I would like your comments on how successful you felt they were. I'm not certain how many of these pilots were run across the country. Was it cost prohibitive, or did you feel the cost was justified? Moving forward, is there any plan to have this be a regular course of action, so that it's no longer a pilot but turns into a regular routine for elections?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Absolutely. I think that in terms of the success, we cannot look only at the participation rate. I think you make the very valid point that it was not just a voting opportunity. It was an engagement opportunity. We do know, based on our research, that voters who vote early will tend to continue voting for the rest of their lives.

The number of voters was 70,000. The price of the pilot was $2.6 million. If you look at the ratio of voter to dollar, it's a significant expense, but I don't think this is how it should be measured.

I have the same view with regard to the pre-registration of youth. Should we have that ability? At some point we will have programs going into the schools to pre-register young Canadians. That opportunity should not be looked at merely from the point of view of how many young Canadians we get on the register, but also how many we get to engage and talk about the electoral process and its importance.

I think we have to look at it in a more global way. We do intend to expand the campus opportunities at the next election. As I indicated, we would also have satellite offices outside of campuses for Canadians who may be outside of their district. We certainly will continue to have them on the campuses for the next election.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

That's fantastic, and I agree completely with everything that you've said.

Could you give me a number? How many campus stations were there across the country?

[Stéphane Perrault]

There were 40 on campuses and at friendship centres. They were mostly on campuses, I think. The vast majority at least were on campuses. We would be looking to expand that where possible.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Do you have any idea of the number that you are looking to expand it to?

[Stéphane Perrault]

No, not at this point.

For the most part, in the last election, those institutions that we engaged were responsive. There were a few cases where it was a challenge for various reasons, so we'll try again next time. We'll be happy to come back with some numbers when we're further ahead in our planning.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Will the stations that were implemented last time also be implemented next time? You mentioned that there were some challenges. Maybe some of those would be excluded?

[Stéphane Perrault]

I'm not aware of any institution where we would not repeat the experience.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Okay, very good.

Those are all my questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

Thank you.

We do have some time for a second round, or at least a portion of one. I'll start that second round with Mr. Reid.

You did have a shorter round. I think I'll go with a full five minutes for you, and then we can see where we are.