Sure. Go ahead.
Evidence of meeting #91 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 security.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #91 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 security.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you.
I just want to follow up with my friend's questions on the standing order thing. I just want to clarify because we're kind of jarring.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
You start talking Standing Orders, and I mean the House owns the orders, not the Clerk's department.
I'm curious as to the end result of this process that we will see.
12:05 p.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons
Again, as I explained to the executive assistants of all the House leaders, the purpose was initially to help me understand the Standing Orders, because I don't find that they're particularly user-friendly.
12:05 p.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons
The idea would be to provide them in simpler language, rearrange them so the order is a bit more logical, under the absolute guarantee that no changes would be made and no product would be finalized without the approval of the procedure and House affairs committee.
I quite agree with you. I don't own these Standing Orders, these are yours.
12:05 p.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons
We're going to be going into a new parliament, presumably in two or three years, or whenever the next election. There is an opportunity for the members to discuss the Standing Orders. If in the meantime, through negotiations and shared information, the House leaders recognize there might be some value in rewriting the Standing Orders, again I underline, not for the purposes of changing them but for the purposes of them making more user-friendly, etc., it seemed to me that this would be a worthwhile project.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Let me be clear though. There would not be one period changed without a report coming to PROC without everything going through PROC, correct?
12:05 p.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay. I thought so, but I wanted to nail that down. We don't want any surprises, at least as few as possible.
With that, Chair, my other questions would be in camera.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I just want to ask the question. There are annotated standing orders. They haven't been republished in many years.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Would that not be a good starting place? You don't need anyone's approval to do that, and that would give a very clear indication of the kinds of confusion that exist. Further annotations could—
12:05 p.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons
I guess the issue is that the annotated commentary is attached to the structure of the Standing Orders as they currently exist. The idea perhaps would be to work—for your approval in the end—a revised Standing Orders version, and then use that as the vehicle to consider either a new annotated Standing Orders edition, the third, or to begin the work on a possible fourth edition of the manual.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
We should keep in mind, of course, that the annotated Standing Orders were there before the manual was first begun and it kind of replaced them. However, there's no question that I thought it was a very useful tool.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
We will suspend for a minute to go in camera.
If anyone who's not allowed to be here could leave, that would be great.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
[Public proceedings resume]
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Good afternoon. Welcome to the 91st meeting of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. This afternoon, we are continuing our study on the Interim Estimates 2018-19.
Our witnesses from Elections Canada are Stéphane Perrault, Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Michel Roussel, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer with Electoral Events and Innovation, and Hughes St-Pierre, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer with Internal Services.
Thank you for being here.
I will give the floor to Mr. Perrault for his presentation.
12:25 p.m.
Stéphane Perrault Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I welcome this opportunity to appear before the committee today to present Election Canada's 2018-19 interim estimates as well as to update members on the status of our preparations for the 2019 general election.
Today, the committee is voting on Election Canada's interim supply, which totals $7.7 million. This represents the salaries of some 350 indeterminate positions for the first quarter of the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2018. It does not include any of the agency's other expenditures, which are funded from a statutory appropriation.
In addition to supporting Parliament in its review of legislative changes, you will recall from my appearance on the Main Estimates last spring that Elections Canada has been pursuing two strategic priorities since the last general election.
Our first priority is to modernize our electoral services through a range of initiatives such as the introduction of electronic poll books to improve the process at the polls, and other projects regarding services to voters and political entities. I will come back to that in a moment.
The second strategic priority relates to the replacement and improvement of key infrastructure assets that are required for the delivery of elections, such as our data centres, IT networks, telecommunications services and the pay system for poll workers.
To be ready for the next general election, we need to have completed our transformation projects by September 2018 in order to begin integrated testing of all IT-enabled projects, which would enable us to reach a state of complete preparation in the spring of 2019. This timeline means that final decisions about the scope of our transformation projects have already been made, or will be, in the next few months. In this regard, I would like to briefly highlight the progress made on key improvement initiatives.
First, I am pleased to report that a company was selected last fall through a rigorous procurement process to provide electronic poll books at the next election. This will allow us to automate a number of record-keeping transactions at the polls. Ballots will continue to be marked and counted by hand.
For the next general election, electronic poll books will be deployed in some 225 electoral districts for advance polls only, which can be done under the current legislation. Deployment of this technology in advance polls will address the most critical challenges experienced in the last general election in terms of wait times in urban and semi-urban districts. The use of electronic poll books at ordinary polls will be considered only after the next general election, if changes are made to the legislation. In rural areas, where the main challenge for voters is the travel distance to the polls, returning officers will be provided with new IT tools to inform the creation of polling divisions and improve the proximity of polling places to electors.
We are also working on the first release of an online portal for political entities. Our objective through this service is that parties, candidates and official agents will be able to complete and file various documents online, including nomination papers, if so enabled by legislation change. We have engaged the Advisory Committee of Political Parties throughout the development of this project and, I would add, of all projects involving services to constituents or political entities.
Other key projects related to voting services include the expansion of voting on campus opportunities from 40 post-secondary institutions to some 110, close to triple the number. This matter had interested committee members last spring. This summer, returning officers will be reaching out to university and college administrations to make the necessary arrangements. In spring 2018, returning officers will also begin working with remote Indigenous communities to improve registration and voting services.
We have also made significant progress in renewing infrastructure systems and services.
In December, the agency selected a new data-hosting service provider to support many of the systems used to deliver electoral services, as the current contract expires later this calendar year. A schedule is being finalized to ensure a seamless transition to the new Canadian hosting site.
As well, by the end of summer 2018, the agency will have finalized the development of a new system and processes for its various contact centres, in order to provide Canadians, election workers, and political entities with more timely and relevant information.
This spring, we will also complete the procurement of field telecommunications services for local offices and will have updated a key component of the system to pay poll workers.
Finally, the agency is making progress in renewing the system used by political entities to file financial returns electronically, in order to provide additional capabilities and make it more convenient to users.
As the agency enters the final phase of its preparations for the next general election, I see two main challenges ahead.
The first relates to cybersecurity and the broader issue of disinformation. The Communications Security Establishment estimates that multiple groups will very likely deploy cyber-capabilities in an attempt to influence the democratic process during the 2019 federal election. In response, Elections Canada is taking a number of steps to further strengthen its security posture. For example, the security design of our IT network has been improved, and our new data-hosting services will offer a range of additional protections. The agency is also commissioning an independent audit of its security controls, which should be completed this spring.
Upgrading the agency's technological infrastructure to meet the requirements of the new security environment, however, requires considerable investments. The incremental costs required to improve and maintain this infrastructure are funded through our statutory appropriation. These costs will be reflected in the agency's expenditures, beginning this fiscal year.
With respect to the broader issue of disinformation, we are working with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, and our integrity program is keeping abreast of developments. Our main role in this area is ensuring that Canadians have the correct information on where, when, and how to register and vote.
The second challenge for the agency relates to the implementation of legislative changes as we get closer to the general election. At this time, two bills introducing changes to the Canada Elections Act remain before Parliament, and the introduction of further reform, as indicated by the government, is expected. We remain hopeful that it will include several of the important changes this committee has recommended.
Having said that, the window of opportunity to implement major changes in time for the next general election is rapidly closing. We will continue to support parliamentarians as they examine new electoral legislation, and to inform them of the impacts of the changes and the timelines for the implementation. As always, we will keep in mind the imperative of ensuring that processes, systems, and training necessary for the delivery of the election are well tested and ready to be deployed without risk to the election.
In conclusion, Mr. Chair, I am pleased to report that Elections Canada is progressing as planned on its improvements and is now entering the final phase of preparations for the next general election.
Thank you.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Thank you very much. There's a lot of great work and changes that you've made. It's exciting.
I'm going to do the same as was done with the last witnesses. We'll have seven minutes for each party. Split it up as you will. At the end of the meeting, if anyone wants five minutes to go in camera to talk about security, we can. Some of the things you just raised we might want to do in camera, if there are questions.
The Liberals, for seven minutes.
Mr. Simms.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I had some security questions, but obviously I'll wait now in light of that.
On electronic poll books, I understand what you're saying when it comes to the urban mechanism, but you then talked about the rural efficiencies you're hoping to achieve. Could you explain that again to me? I may interrupt you—and I apologize in advance—but what rural efficiencies are you talking about, again?
12:35 p.m.
Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
What we see in rural areas is fewer lineups at the polls. As a concern, it's travel distance to the polling places. That's the issue, and in many cases, the drawing of the polling divisions. At the last election, it was not adequate. So we've sought ways to improve that.
One of the ways we're improving that is we're starting by identifying potential polling places and then drafting the boundaries around that, rather than drafting polling divisions and then trying to find a polling place in there. We're reversing the process.