Evidence of meeting #15 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 elections.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Chayer, are you confident that Canada Post could handle a significant increase in voting by mail?
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
Yes. I don't have any concerns about the volume of mail. We're talking potentially about five million mail-in ballots. That's what has been estimated by Elections Canada.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
And if it were 10 million, would you still be confident?
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Okay,
There has been some discussion, which I think Mr. Blaikie was asking you and Mr. Orb about, about registering for mail-in ballots. In some states in the U.S., for example, you don't even register. By default, you get a ballot sent to you in the mail.
You're already sending voter information cards to every elector, is that correct?
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
Yes. They are produced by Elections Canada data.
Liberal
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
That's correct.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Would you be able to send out a ballot to every person who gets a voter card like that?
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
If Elections Canada asked for that, we could do that.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Orb, you were making some comments about the reluctance of people to go to a polling location, and rightfully so. You emphasized that you believe that a mail-in ballot could be something that would significantly assist in alleviating some of those concerns that people would have during a pandemic.
Did I summarize that correctly?
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Would it be even easier for somebody if the ballot just came to their mailbox, and they were responsible for completing it and sending it back? The registration process is another hurdle that has to be overcome.
Mr. Blaikie asked you whether Canada Post locations would be good places for people to register. I believe you said yes, but that's still asking people to go and expose themselves when potentially they don't have to.
What if the ballot was just by default mailed to everybody? Would that be easier for them and make the process even simpler?
President, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities
Are you talking about delivering to homes?
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Yes, delivering the ballot straight into your mailbox or your community mailbox, wherever that is.
President, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities
That would have to be done in a different manner, because right now a lot of rural people pick their mail up in the post office, or it would be an assembly outside somewhere, but not home to home.
December 3rd, 2020 / 12:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Right, but I mean they do pick it up at their regular mail location, and then they could—
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
What I'm getting at is, do you think the registration process of the mail-in ballot is an added step that makes it a little more difficult for people to vote by mail or do you think, if the ballot just by default came to somebody on its own, that would be even easier for them?
President, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities
I'd have to think about that. I'm not sure. I'm not really an expert on that process. This is something new for us to consider.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Ms. Chayer, are all Canada Post outlets open right now for regular functioning hours?
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
No. We do still have some that are closed, and it fluctuates from time to time depending on what's going on there, but that does happen.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Some of the outlets that Mr. Orb is referring to in rural parts of Canada.... If you needed to go to one of these places to register, there might not be somebody working at one of those right now because of the pandemic. Is that correct?
General Manager, Customer Experience, Canada Post Corporation
It could be the case. Again, there are smaller numbers as things are a little bit better, but it can fluctuate and it is a possibility.
Liberal