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

[Sabreena Delhon]

Yes, definitely. During the pandemic, we've seen a huge shift to digital engagement, but we know that the digital divide is still a significant issue for voters in Canada, so having that pandemic-proof way of having in-person engagement with social distancing and all the relevant precautions is still relevant.

I just want to highlight a piece of research from a few years ago that I did with public libraries. It found that when people have a legal problem and they receive some form of official documentation in the mail, they take it to their librarian because they don't quite know where to start, and they are looking for a local connection, someone in their community who can help point them to the right official channel. Also, it doesn't cost any money.

Libraries are physical spaces that aren't as accessible as they normally would be during a pandemic, but they are still highly relevant to engaging communities in the way we're talking about. It's definitely worth the investment in those outreach officers to boost the digital engagement, but also that in-person outreach function as well.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you for that.

Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

You are at the time, so thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Therrien.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to acknowledge the witnesses who are joining us today.

We're pleased to have you here.

Ms. Delhon, I read the following in your notes: “Another point is to emphasize the identity of being a voter above the act of voting.”

I find this approach worthwhile. I want you to explain the difference between “being a voter” and “voting”.

[Sabreena Delhon]

I'd be happy to expand on that.

Identity is that inner sense, that sense of responsibility, that duty. Manifesting that and emphasizing that in the messaging around the election is key to boosting engagement.

Going to vote is a thing you do; it's an action. That should be significant as well, but the sense of internalized duty, that I must do this, it's my identity, I am a voter, is more compelling psychologically for individuals to act on than something on the list that says I have to go vote today.

I can't explain the psychological part of that. I know there's some research on that and the paper that I cited in my statement is from the Mowat Centre, so we can dig a little deeper into that. However, it is significant, and that's the type of strategy that is very successful in the private sector for getting people to buy things, that you're selling a certain identity. It's drawing on that.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

If I told you that being a voter is a four-year job that requires you to be informed and curious, that people should learn how to do this job, and that they should be informed about the political world around them, would you agree?

[Sabreena Delhon]

Yes. It's about making the responsibility more immediate and it's about making it more specific, where it's specific to you and you are the voter, rather than voting being something that needs to get done, something that other people do. It's really focusing on the individual act and then positioning it within this collective responsibility.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

I find this very worthwhile. Can you tell me, in 30 seconds, how we can do this? I want to talk to the other witness who came to see us.

[Sabreena Delhon]

We can draw parallels to the pandemic. For the most part, we have everybody wearing a mask. Canadians are and voters are willing and able. We just need to engage them.

At the top of my statement, I cited research from The Samara Centre for Democracy, where they measured attitudes in connection to public institutions and civic engagement at this time, and it's really high.

The pandemic is giving us a really important opportunity. Canadians are ready to be engaged and we just have to tell them what we need. They're ready to do it.

If we can get people wearing a mask during a pandemic, we can definitely harness this moment to get them to be more engaged as a citizen, as a voter.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

The parallel is very useful. Thank you.

I'll turn to Mr. Gunn.

I have four children. My 11-year-old son is very politically aware for his age because he's immersed in politics. When he comes home from school, he tells me about his current teacher. I've spoken with many teachers. The issue, I think, is that in order to educate young people, we must make sure that teachers can provide a stimulating environment so that the young people are encouraged to take an interest in politics.

What do you think about this?

[Taylor Gunn]

I'll comment in relation to what we've done rather than just a general commentary.

We agree with you. One of the philosophies of our approach is that an engaged teacher can engage their students.

Last year, we had the capacity, which is rare, which means money, to gather and physically train, typically over an afternoon and an evening and then a full day, somewhere in the range of 1,850 teachers through 17 different events across Canada. What we see in evidence there is an improvement in their ability and engagement to instruct the student vote program in their schools. Also what they do is seed the system with enthusiastic teachers.

Just so that everyone knows, if we don't have representatives from all political parties as candidates, we then have representatives who are political pundits or commentators, and teachers generally find this fairly surprising. Therefore, we agree with you wholeheartedly.

The other thing we would say is that it's not just about having this type of stuff in the curriculum. In Ontario, we have a half course that's civics, and it is either very loved by students, rarely, or generally hated and written off as a Bird course that you take in the summer. The difference is who's teaching it and how they're teaching it.

I will never be able to underline enough the power, not the political power, but the power of engagement that teachers have and how important they are for the health of our democracy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Mr. Gunn.

We have Mr. Blaikie for six minutes.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Delhon, I want to start with you and go back to the comment you made about on-campus voting. We've heard from some previous witnesses that there are still students living on campus and still professors and support staff working on campus. You talked about some ways to mitigate the situation of not having on-campus voting. Do you think it would be wise to continue to have on-campus voting in the event of a pandemic election?

[Sabreena Delhon]

I would defer to public health officials for their best advice about whether elections should be conducted physically on a campus; it depends on how that can all be set up. In my statement, I presented the student experience as an example, as a case study, because there are lots of people right now who would normally be living in one location during this time, but are now living somewhere else because of the pandemic, which creates some confusion around where to vote, how to vote and how to indicate your official address. That's something that would need to be ironed out.

On the student side, I also want to mention, again, Apathy is Boring and the Democratic Engagement Exchange, because they recently conducted a student vote campaign that partnered with 700 different community organizations. That gives us a blueprint to make sure that certain populations, like students, can have the messaging and receive the information they need to vote and understand how to do it and where to go.

I think because campuses don't have as much activity and busyness right now, they might be able to be used for other people to come to vote in those spaces as well. The pandemic is giving us an opportunity to think in really creative ways and to try some new things. I know that in the lead-up to September with back to school, there was some exploration of classes being held in community centres that were otherwise closed, or using malls that could not be open in the normal kind of way. I would just note that campuses are huge; there's a lot of social-distancing opportunity on them, so maybe that's significant for this moment and that environment can be harnessed to increase voter engagement for the student community, but also potentially beyond as well.

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

We've heard from a couple of witnesses that the best way to avoid the risks of a low turnout or disenfranchisement during a pandemic election is for parliamentarians to work to ensure that there isn't an election during the pandemic. I wonder, starting with Ms. Delhon, briefly, and then over to Mr. Gunn, if either of you would like to add to the testimony on that question.

[Sabreena Delhon]

Oh, oh!

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

I can take that as a no.

[Sabreena Delhon]

What do you think, Mr. Gunn? You go ahead.

[Taylor Gunn]

It doesn't really matter, because it's not up to anyone here. I think public health officials will play a role. We've seen three elections over the last couple of months and people still turned out. I think as you saw with Mr. Boda, they estimate that turnout only went down 2%, so maybe that's my quick response.

I've helped you get out of having to make any iffy comments there, Sabreena.

Mr. Blaikie and anyone else, if I could get a chance at some point to talk a little bit about some of the recommendations of the Chief Electoral Officer, CEO, and how there could be some other things that could contribute to a successful pandemic election, I'd love to do that at some point.

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

I would love to hear that. I'm going to maybe leave it to colleagues from other parties with a little more time.

I am interested to know, in terms of the student election, two things. How do you think the pandemic would affect the rollout of a student election, particularly, because you've talked about the effect on participation of parents in the general election via your student election? How does the pandemic student election roll out and what do you think that means for the salutary effect that you've traditionally had on voter turnout with parents?

[Taylor Gunn]

Thanks.

Ms Sahota, how much time do I have for that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

You have a minute and a half.

[Taylor Gunn]

We just conducted parallel elections in the three elections that took place—in B.C., Saskatchewan, and the municipal elections in Nova Scotia. We missed New Brunswick because it was the first Friday and the return to school.

Here's an interesting comparison. In British Columbia—which, in the last federal election had over 200,000 kids participate and over 80% of all schools registered to participate—we had a smaller percentage of schools register. Remember, this was also a snap election. We ended up with just under 90,000 students participating. What's interesting is that in Saskatchewan we had 24,000 students participate in the municipal elections. That was higher than in our previous provincial election.

Probably one of the biggest things for us that will impact our turnout is whether the election falls within the school year calendar. There are some implications around that, with the length of the campaign and things like this. Beyond that, it is what is going on in the education system. All of us from different parts of the country would realize this is being affected differently by the pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

The time is up, but Ms. Delhon seems to want to say something, as well.

You can take 10 seconds or so to chime in.

[Sabreena Delhon]

I just wanted to note a recent study from Elections Canada that indicated that voters would turn out. Although they're highly concerned about the pandemic circumstances, the turnout is still there. We know from other regions that mail-in ballots have been used with tremendous effect and with high engagement.