Evidence of meeting #13 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Mr. Blais, could you continue with your comments?
November 26th, 2020 / 11:25 a.m.
Professor, Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, As an Individual
I mentioned that in preparing my presentation, I looked at the proposals made by Elections Canada, and I am just reacting to those suggestions.
Understanding the possibility of being very flexible in how the voting would take place at these different places, my understanding is this could mean that in some places the vote could take place a week before, for instance. It would make it easier for the residents in that place. This is my only comment to make it more flexible.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Ms. Blumczynska, you were talking about permanent residents versus the people who became citizens and how this can disenfranchise people.
Do you have some data to support that, to show that new Canadians are disenfranchised because they did not have the opportunity to vote as permanent residents? Is there any information in your data to support that?
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
Well, in terms of municipal and provincial movements toward—
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Sorry. I want to look at federal data. I recognize the municipal rules, but I'm looking at the data for what they do federally. That's what I'm really interested in.
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
Do you want the number of permanent residents who currently reside in Canada who do not have the ability to vote?
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
No. You mentioned disenfranchised Canadians, because as permanent residents they were not engaged, and therefore, the likelihood of them to continue to vote would be lower. Would you have any data to indicate what the voting levels are for new Canadians?
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
I do not have data related to new Canadians who are already citizens and are voting. I was referring to new Canadians who have permanent resident status and legally do not have the right to vote.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Absolutely, and I recognize that. You mentioned that the likelihood to vote, as Canadian citizens, was lower. Can we say this may happen?
I'm looking for data to support that new Canadians who have their citizenship are less likely to vote, because it does take a number of years to become a citizen, and it's three years after that. That's the data I'm looking for.
We know that in some ridings we have higher levels of immigration and lower levels of immigration. I'm looking for those numbers to verify that fact.
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
I'm sure we could find those numbers. This was information brought to me by several ethnocultural communities. They specifically noted that the delay in obtaining citizenship, and the many years as permanent residents, removed them from the democratic process.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Absolutely, and I understand that variable because one of the biggest things about becoming a Canadian citizen is that right to vote. I see so many people choose that so they have the full rights of all Canadian citizens. You're saying they should become permanent residents. I'm just looking for that data. Could you please show me, not specifically permanent residents, but information regarding new citizens of Canada and the likelihood of voting?
My time is very limited, so I will move on.
Nicole, you mentioned student voter turnout as being so much greater. That is wonderful. I know my children are all making sure that they vote and that their voices are heard. What did you find when it came to students? Western University is in the area I am from. Were they voting for the local candidate in that area, or were they sending home mail-in ballots and voting for the candidate in the residence where they usually reside? I'm looking for information on that, please.
National Deputy Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
I had the opportunity last year to work alongside the Elections Canada group at Ryerson. I was part of the part-time students union, the Continuing Education Students' Association of Ryerson.
Students were engaging with the advance polling stations because as it was advance, they were able to vote for their home riding but on campus. That really enhanced and empowered the ability of students to participate in the elections process. We found as well that students were really interested in the core issues that candidates were talking about.
I said that piece about having some type of non-partisan central platform that students could access to learn more about their candidates is really important, because often it falls back on student unions or different union groups to take on that work.
It's really great to have the reliability measure coming from the government and Elections Canada itself, as well, in presenting information in a non-partisan manner. When it comes to how folks were voting, yes, it does come back to the fact that on-campus polling stations are advance polls, so regardless of their riding, they are eligible and able to both register and cast their ballots at the polls there.
Conservative
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning and thank you very much to our witnesses for being here today and for their insight.
I want to ask all three of you a couple of questions.
Our role here at the committee is to finalize recommendations to government and to Elections Canada on the chance of an election during a pandemic. One of the things that all three of you refer to is the increased possibility of voters using mail-in ballots.
Are there any recommendations you may have for us to offer to Elections Canada in preparation for that potential increase in mail-in ballots? What should Elections Canada be aware of as we expect more people to use mail-in ballots?
Mr. Blais.
Professor, Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, As an Individual
I don't have expertise in mail-in ballots, so I don't have any clear recommendations for Elections Canada about how exactly this should be done. Clearly, there would be a lot more, and they would have to take special care in making sure there was no fraud, for instance, and so on, but I don't have any specific recommendations to make.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Ms. Blumczynska, from the voter's perspective that you're representing here today, what do you think Elections Canada should be prepared for?
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
I believe that Elections Canada needs to prepare multilingual resources that explain how to use the mail-in ballot in order for voters to know exactly what they need to do and by when they need to mail the ballot itself. The instructions need to be very clear and provided to ethnocultural communities in their first language.
National Deputy Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
I echo much of what Ms. Blumczynska just said.
It needs to be readily and openly communicated with folks well in advance of an election. I had given credit to Elections Canada for their social media strategy that was utilized during the previous federal election. This needs to be even more enhanced now, because even when that resource and material were available virtually, there was still a lot of confusion.
Questions were asked to both my student group on campus as well as the Elections Canada student group on campus, because the process is not always clear and concise. Particularly when it comes to registration to vote and changing addresses in advance of having those ballots mailed to folks, number one, that is critical. Number two is clearly and openly explaining that process and ensuring that folks are comfortable going into an election process and that it's not trying to be further explained. Although those resources should be available, it should be made clear in advance of those ballots going out.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Thanks, all of you.
The other thing that we're all witnessing an increased rise in is misinformation. I suspect that it's getting worse, particularly during the pandemic. Is there anything that you think Elections Canada can do to raise awareness about misinformation and to combat the spread of misinformation?
Again, I'll go back to you, Professor Blais.
Professor, Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, As an Individual
I'm really sorry. I don't have any clear solution for this. I'm really concerned about this as well, very much concerned. In fact, I'm involved in a study about social media misinformation about COVID.
I think it's a huge challenge, but having thought this through, I don't know exactly what else Elections Canada should or could do.
Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba
I think it was mentioned by another speaker previously, but I believe that a non-partisan platform that summarizes the various positions of the different parties, which could be under the care of Elections Canada or another body with authority to oversee it and ensure it is correct, could then become a single source of information. That way, community members across the country could be directed to that one single source of truth.
Liberal
Omar Alghabra Liberal Mississauga Centre, ON
Yes. Honestly, I'm not worried just about how platforms are portrayed but also about the election process, such as how people can vote and where people should go to vote and all that stuff. Is there anything that you think Elections Canada can do other than to focus on spreading the correct information?
