Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2020

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

Are there other types of barriers that people living in rural and remote communities might face or that they already face that might be exacerbated by an election during a pandemic that you'd care to highlight for the committee?

[Raymond Orb]

For some people, of course, it could be travel. A lot of the seniors who live rurally have challenges that way. We don't have great bus service anymore, between provincial and federal cutbacks, we've lost a lot of our bus lines. It would mean that people would most likely have to hire someone to take them to the poll in some cases. That is a challenge.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

That's something that may have an adverse effect on turnout. Have you seen that at other levels, in either provincial or municipal elections, where you've had reduced turnout due to those kinds of transportation challenges?

[Raymond Orb]

We've seen that, and actually, we just went through a bad experience in Saskatchewan with their municipal elections. We had a blizzard, especially in the west side of the province, which affected even the Saskatoon area. That was the worst thing we've ever seen happen. It was almost a disaster. We have to prepare for those things. Sometimes, people aren't able to travel. They need to vote online, or with mail-in ballots ahead of time.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

One of the things that the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada has asked for in his interim report on pandemic elections is a wider power to be able to adapt the elections act to changing circumstances, given the pandemic. Although it's not a health issue, to your point about the blizzard, do you think it's advisable for Parliament to give some more latitude to the CEO in order to be able to accommodate changing circumstances during a pandemic election?

[Raymond Orb]

I think that's something that could be considered because of course these are different circumstances. Things that we never thought would happen before are happening now.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Although they're not in his formal recommendations, the Chief Electoral Officer made representations to the committee asking essentially that if an election is to happen during the pandemic, the federal government institute the longest possible writ period to provide Elections Canada that extra time to try to overcome whatever challenges might come up. Is that something you think would be useful to the folks you represent, allowing more time for the election period so that Elections Canada would have a little more time to get organized with some of the challenges that may present them with?

[Raymond Orb]

Yes, I think that's something that could be considered. On the other hand, I know from past experiences that a long writ period and all the campaigning that goes with it seems to weigh on people. It seems to weigh on people's minds who live in the public too. They actually get tired of it. You might have heard that before. I think giving a little extra time is a good thing, but within a reasonable timeframe.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

As someone who was first elected in the federal election of 2015, I'm very familiar with the challenges of a long writ period.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

We have Mr. Tochor next, for five minutes.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Thank you to the witnesses.

My question's a little bit on the processes at Canada Post, but first, I'd like to start with Mr. Orb, and I'd like to thank him for the good work he does in representing rural Saskatchewan.

Mr. Orb, is there a common complaint from rural Saskatchewan about Canada Post? I'm sure they've heard already, but what are some of the typical issues that rural Saskatchewan has with Canada Post?

[Raymond Orb]

I think it would be in the timeliness, most likely—that things are delivered on time. This year, it seems like Canada Post is extremely busy because of a lot of the online shopping, and unfortunately, some of the small businesses have been closed down. I think the timeliness would be the thing. It's not necessarily about the cost but about the time it takes between the time people order things and the time they gets delivered.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

That would spill over into an election, where ballots getting out to rural Saskatchewan would be slower and probably slower to reply to Elections Canada with the completed ballot. I think I would have concerns for Saskatchewan.

Changing to Canada Post and something on the procedural side. I trust Canada Post. I think on mail-in ballots, they're able to conduct themselves in a manner such that Canadians should have confidence in the integrity of that vote. On the priority of elections material versus regular mail, is there a pecking order that would proceed, with the vote having more precedence over, say, commercial flyers?

[Louise Chayer]

All mail is important. All mail has certain standards. All mail has its delivery windows. Lettermail would have priority. As we get closer to the deadline, if there are certain deadlines that we have to meet with Elections Canada, as we work out some of those details, we would make sure that they certainly become a priority. All mail is important and if we deliver as we are set to deliver and as we are organized to deliver, we should be able to meet those standards.

Lettermail is a lot different from parcels. It is managed and processed on different equipment, so even if we have some delays on the parcel side, it does not necessarily mean that it would translate into other mail. But all mail has its standards, its targets, in making sure that we deliver on time. That's what we will concentrate on. Lettermail will be letter mail, and flyers will be flyers, to deliver on time, which we try to commit to.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

So there's no priority of the ballots in a federal election over a Best Buy flyer?

[Louise Chayer]

No. The flyers have their standard delivery dates, and we aim to deliver the different product lines on time, as the product lines are meant to be.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

One of the concerns we heard from previous witnesses is international mail. Can you walk me through the timelines for that? How much longer are the international delivery timelines? I'm thinking of Hong Kong. Would you know the difference between typical mail timelines with letters moving from that country?

[Louise Chayer]

I 'd have to get back to you on that. I don't have that at my disposal.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Okay.

Speaking of the pandemic and what happens in the worst case, there are 21 processing points across Canada, is that correct?

[Louise Chayer]

Twenty-one processing plants, yes.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

So if half a dozen COVID cases were reported at one of those processing plants on the eve of an election, what would happen?

[Louise Chayer]

Those are scenarios we are going to be working out with Elections Canada to understand what those contingencies would be. There have been some cases in our plants, and when those things happen, we do take all of the necessary precautions to make sure that the employee is safe and supported. If there is any contact tracing, the health authorities are all engaged early on. We also involve the local joint health and safety committees in those decisions.

That often translates into our having to sanitize or clean a part of the depot, a part of the plant or a larger segment of the plant, which sometimes does mean that we have to shut down a piece of our plant or a depot to be able to sanitize it properly before we bring employees back. And when that happens, we are quick to recover and understand what the priorities are, based on where we're at with the mail, and we recover as quickly as we can.

Those are scenarios that we need to map out with Elections Canada so that we all understand the expectations and the art of the possible in delivering in those circumstances.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

When will the testing you're going to get done wrap up?

[Louise Chayer]

We're still waiting for the samples. Once we get the samples, we would run them through quickly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

Mr. Gerretsen, you have five minutes.