Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 10th, 2021

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

I don't want to mislead you. I see that Mr. Sutherland is taking notes right now. As far as I know, the answer is yes. I am not sure whether it is on an à-la-carte basis, so to speak, but for voting by mail, we expect that Elections Canada will put certain measures in place. I will follow up shortly with a more detailed answer.

Thank you for your question.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Thank you for your answer.

I have another question for you. The Bloc Québécois is in favour of holding the election over a period of two days, so Saturday and Sunday, rather than three days. That way, school classrooms could be used as polling places; obviously, schools are available only on the weekend, not during the week. I realize that you have opted to have Saturday, Sunday and Monday as polling days. Frankly, I've often wondered why it was necessary to spread the polling out over three days when the Chief Electoral Officer said that it could be done in two days.

I gather from what you said that the third day, the Monday, was chosen for religious reasons. Is that right?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

No. I hope I didn't give that impression. That said, I can see how some voters might have religious obligations on the weekend, but not on Monday.

In my riding, voters who come to mind are those whose employers allow them to take a certain amount of time off in order to vote on election day. By law, employers have to give employees time off so they can vote. In addition, day care centres are open on Monday and not on the weekend. Monday was included as one of the three polling days for other reasons as well. In some regions, public transit runs more often on Monday with reduced service on the weekend.

That is why we are keeping Monday as one of the three polling days.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Minister.

We have four minutes and 23 seconds left until the 10-minute period to vote. Is it okay if we allow Mr. Blaikie to have his two and a half minutes? It is, yes.

Okay, go ahead, Mr. Blaikie.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you to the committee.

I think we all know that we're on quite a timeline from here to the end of June. Of course, that timeline wouldn't be as urgent if we had reassurances from the Prime Minister that he would not call an election during the summer, but we don't have that reassurance. I'd like to hear that from the minister today, but he declined to give it again earlier in this meeting.

I'm wondering how the government envisions the progress of this bill, not only through the House of Commons but also through the Senate, in time for the end of the session on June 23 or 24. Forgive me; I don't have the exact day, but it's coming soon either way.

I'm wondering if you have some sense of that, particularly in light of the administrative challenges that we have with limited broadband capability and staffing of virtual committees, particularly now in light of late sittings. The challenge is less about getting it through the House, although that's an aspect; it's also about finding time to make sure that committees can do their work, whether here in the House or at the Senate.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Blaikie, for the question.

I have had in my other responsibilities ongoing conversations with the government representative in the Senate, Senator Gold. At the end of a session there are typically a number of important pieces of government legislation. These include the budget implementation act and the net-zero accountability act, which is obviously important, I know, to your party and certainly to our government. We very much want the Senate to be in a position to study and adopt those bills. We want to see those bills, just as an example, get royal assent.

We feel the same way about this piece of legislation. I've expressed that to Senator Gold. I would hope that our colleagues in the Senate, who provide a very useful and in many cases a thorough study of legislation, may understand that these are time-limited measures designed specifically to protect Canadians in the context of a potential pandemic election and will find a way to do their work on an expedited basis and adopt this bill. We won't know, obviously, until that happens.

However, the minute this clears the House of Commons, Mr. Blaikie, I will be doing what I can with colleagues in the Senate, including experienced senators who have offered to sponsor this bill in the Senate. I would hope they'd recognize that this is an unusual circumstance and that the bill speaks to the electoral system, which is obviously of great interest to parliamentarians in the House of Commons, and that they could accommodate us, particularly if we arrive at a broad consensus in our House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Minister.

That's all the time we have. We appreciate your time with us. We know that we're cutting it short even for you to go and vote.

Everyone, please feel free to log off. When you log back in, remember to log in to the in camera meeting and bring with you report version two, which was sent out on Wednesday.

We will suspend for the vote.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Chair, thank you.

Thank you to colleagues for this opportunity, and thank you to Al and Manon for joining us. I hope to see you again soon.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]