Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Jan. 30th, 2018

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Ms. Tassi, please.

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

Thank you, Chair.

If you wouldn't mind, please signal me at around a minute, because I'll be sharing my time with Ms. Sahota.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I'll signal you at three and a half minutes, all right? Duly noted.

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

With respect to the debates, I was taking notes as you were speaking. There were three debates in 2010 and two debates in 2013. Is that accurate?

[Catherine Kumar]

No: one in 2010 and two in 2013.

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

Were there any others in addition to those from that time?

[Catherine Kumar]

No.

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

At the beginning when I asked about the public opinion, with respect to the uptake, you said that maybe 50% were in and 50% not so much. Since you've had those debates, has the uptake improved?

[Catherine Kumar]

Perhaps not, because something happened in the last debate that we planned in 2015, which did not go well for the commission. We have learned a lot of lessons along the way. Literally, as we go along, we are learning and improving. One of the things that is very important with the debates commission and liaising with the parties is that you must have the identical letter going to all the parties about any matter relative to the debate. We erred in one area where the letters that went to the parties cited a different date about something. The incumbent party did not want a debate, even though they said they would debate, took that and literally stripped us. It impacted our brand so badly, and the political analysts did not come on our side because the particular ones were party-aligned.

We have to do a lot of rebuilding of our brand and our reputation and that's why we need to have a couple of debates before the next general election.

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

We've heard testimony on the importance of the role of media in organizing these debates. You mentioned previously that you could have done the reverse and gotten the media on side to convince people. Right now, what do you see as the role of the media?

[Angella Persad]

We see that role as critical. We see them helping us with the entire production of the debate; but more than that, we see them from now until the general election in 2020. We see them as building awareness of debates, of the issues, and of the need to have your leaders out there debating the issues so that the undecided electorate have something to refer to, to make up their minds. We see that as the media's responsibility, and we see that even more now because we can't go to the politicians, the leaders, to ask them to debate and be confident that they will. If the public calls for it, they have to debate because then they pay the ultimate price.

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

With respect to the structure of the commission, does the media have any say or input into decision-making?

[Angella Persad]

They do because two members of the media association are on the commission itself.

[Catherine Kumar]

We are developing a detailed MOU, which would spell out the rights and responsibilities of both parties, the debates commission and the media, so we know going forward there's a really strict way, a modus operandi, between the two.

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

Thank you.

I'm going to pass my remaining time to my colleague, Ms. Sahota.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Good morning.

Do you scale down as a debates commission after election years? We heard from the U.S., and they said they were most active during campaigns but then they would scale down to only a few people, therefore reducing costs. I don't know how your commission operates.

[Catherine Kumar]

We operate very much like that. During an election period we bring on extra staff and we would have a full office of all the different skills required and then after elections, we would go back to doing almost nothing. Again, one of the shortfalls for us is that we still relied on the chamber staff during that period so after the elections we went back to our normal work. We recognize that's not the best way to go forward.

I am very familiar that this is the way the U.S. debates operate. That's also the way the Jamaican debates operate. With our new mandate of wanting to be involved in all processes and all stages of the governance cycle, we are in the process right now of looking for a permanent CEO and also a permanent admin assistant and in the activities we have drilled down from the strategic plan. A lot of things need to be done during this interim period so by the time the elections come around, a lot of work has been done.

As I said, I know that's the way some of the others are done, but I really think it's a good exercise to keep the momentum going even outside the election period.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

During the interim, it's just a couple of positions. How many bodies would you have during an election year, how many different positions? You said relevant skills are needed. What would they be?

[Catherine Kumar]

During the election period, the production people are always outsourced. That would be a group made up of probably 10 persons or so. We always bring in our marketing and communication people—again outsourced. That could be probably just two persons. Then we have the office staff who will be there. We normally have about four or five persons working with us, doing all of the front communication—writing of letters, making the calls, and organizing with the different venues where we're going to have the debates. Pretty much that's it.

On the night of the debate, we call on other people. We have to have security on call, and they're on the site. For the week of the debate itself, we beef up even more with additional resources.

The difficulty in having a full office throughout the period when you're not having debates is the cost of carrying that office.

[Angella Persad]

Just to add, the commissioners all understand that they have to pitch in and do work as well. During the election, nearing the election, the commissioners also have rules and responsibilities.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

I'll have time for a Conservative round, five minutes; and a Liberal round, five minutes.

Let's go to Mr. Nater, please.

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

Thank you, again, to our friends from Trinidad and Tobago for their excellent commentary today. I like the opportunity to speak to our Commonwealth cousins and the opportunity to speak on similar electoral systems and structures of government, and as Mr. Christopherson pointed out, from slightly different cultures as well. It's good to have the dynamics of that conversation.

I have a quick question of clarification. In terms of the actual elections themselves, how are they administered in Trinidad and Tobago? Is there a government entity that administers the elections?

[Angella Persad]

There's the Elections and Boundaries Commission, which is a government entity. They administer all the elections. They would ensure that there are polling booths all through the country. They would ensure free and fair election voting right throughout the country. The responsibility lies with them. They do a pretty good job every year, every election time.

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

I would assume it would be structured as an independent type. It's not a government-appointed body, or it's not affiliated, I should say, with a political organization, then.

[Angella Persad]

I think it's appointed by the president of the country but in consultation with the prime minister.