Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 17th, 2021

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

You are the expert, and if you tell me that this is the customary language in terms of the powers that the Chief Electoral Officer has under the law, I trust you completely. When I was looking at the translation, I thought “donner” was better than “prendre”, but I can see why you are reluctant to say “donner”. It's a bit paternalistic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Maybe Ms. Paquet could help here.

[Manon Paquet, Director, Special Projects, Democratic Institutions Secretariat, Privy Council Office]

Thank you for your question.

I think Ms. Lawson is right that the phrase “prendre des instructions” is used elsewhere in the French version of the act. Moreover, in the English version it does not say “give instructions”, but “make instructions”. This is therefore an accurate translation.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

All right. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

We'll leave it as is, then?

Okay. A recorded vote was requested.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Madam Chair, I don't know if this would be the appropriate time or not, but my understanding is that we may have a little extended time for this committee, which is a good thing, until 2 p.m.

If that's the case, perhaps, whether it's now or some time in the next few moments, we might be able to have a short break just to use the facilities?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Maybe we could have a very short one. Would like a break right now?

I think your colleague is about to move the next amendment.

If there is debate on it, we can wait, but if there isn't, we're on amendment CPC-4.1.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I agree with Tom. Those bio-breaks coming up are very important.

We are looking at CPC-4.1, and what we're adding here is that the bill be.... It's to do with signatures of electors resident in the electoral district. I'm just trying to....

It's not here.

Give me one moment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Okay.

Maybe we'll take the suspension now while you find that.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

That would be wonderful because I think that's part of the issue. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

We'll suspend for five minutes, and then we'll come back, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

[Technical difficulty—Editor] back to order.

I wanted to say that we are about a third of the way through our recommendations. We have approximately an hour and a half left. My goal is to try to finish by two. I think we can do it. Of course, I don't want to stifle debate, but it's a request, and if you could assist in the matter of getting this done by two, that would be greatly appreciated. I understand with the complicated amendments that you do need to ask your thorough questions and be completely sure before you vote.

Mrs. Vecchio, do you have CPC-4.1?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I am ready to go on this.

We're putting forth the amendment that was shared by the Chief Electoral Officer and brought up moments ago about reducing the number of signatures necessary and halving it. That is something that we fully agree on and that is the proposal we're moving, in the context of what the Chief Electoral Officer has requested through his own amendments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Shall CPC-4.1 carry?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Can we have a recorded vote?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Yes, we'll have a recorded vote.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We are on NDP-6.

Mr. Blaikie.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

New Democrats have been very clear from the beginning that we think the campus vote program should continue, and that's something we want to see done. We think, again, in the spirit of the legislation being prescriptive, that it's appropriate to have it in the bill.

We've been very happy to see the government have an open ear in this respect, and there's been some work done to craft the best possible amendment. As it happens, the work that's been done to that effect is represented in a government amendment that they'll be bringing forward, but represents collaboration to make sure that, in the context of a pandemic election, students would have every opportunity to vote that they normally would.

I'll decline to move this amendment at this time and look forward to the government moving the collaborative amendment when it's appropriate later on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Perfect. Thank you.

Mr. Turnbull.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Very briefly, I wanted to thank Mr. Blaikie and the NDP for their great collaboration on this one. Although it's our amendment that will be moved—and I assure him that we are planning to move it—it has really come from the great collaboration and the leadership that Mr. Blaikie has shown on this front.

Thank you for that really welcome collaboration. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Mrs. Vecchio.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I wanted to look at this as well. Perhaps I could find out from the officials specifically if they would be going through the same rigmarole as what you find at advance polls. What would this poll look like? I know that we are looking at different changes.

Would the exact same criteria as regular polls be happening at these, or are they going to look like an advance poll? Can you give me some details on that? That's all I need.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

It hasn't been moved though. Can we wait until we come to a vote?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I'm actually talking about NDP-6.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

They haven't moved it. They're not moving it.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Oh, you're not moving it. Got it.