Evidence of meeting #4 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 election.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Certainly an election delivered after these changes would have some improvement vis-à-vis an election delivered without these changes. That is a fair statement. I'm not sure I'm catching the gist of your question though.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
I'm trying to establish, first of all, that it matters when the election starts, from the point of view of the conduct of the election overall.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Canada's confidence convention is notoriously uncodified. We saw some of that even this week in the latitude the Prime Minister has, for instance, in deeming any vote a confidence vote. In the last Parliament—where it mattered less because it was a majority Parliament—some nights we would vote through the night on hundreds of estimates votes. Some people are of the opinion that any one of those votes is a matter of confidence and could cause an election. Others are not of that view.
From the point of view of Elections Canada, if Parliament were to adopt a more rigorous concept of the confidence convention in order to give more predictability around when an election might start, and if that latitude were limited in some ways so that we could have a better idea of when there was a real election threat happening, would that be helpful in the planning of an election—without speaking to the substantive merits of those changes?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Yes, this would involve a range of considerations that go well beyond an election itself.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
There is some interference here.
You can start again, Mr. Perrault. I'll add time on.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Thank you.
I'm just putting a large caveat around my answer, which is that this goes well beyond the electoral administration. There are issues about the Westminster model that are not—
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Certainly. I'm not asking you to speak to those substantive matters.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I'm not saying whether or not I support such a measure. Of course, it's easier to run an election in a fixed date context or a more predictable context than a less predictable one, obviously.
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
No, we're over by a little bit. Thank you.
Next we have Ms. Vecchio, please.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Thank you very much.
I'll continue with some of the thoughts that Tom and Mr. Therrien had on this.
I'm looking at some of these things we're talking about, like mail-in ballots and take-away voting packages, if that's going to be an option. My parents always tell me not to say how old they are, but my parents are in their eighties. They do not use online services. I go over there and do the services for them. What do you have available?
We have to recognize that seniors right now have been isolated in their homes. There are few people coming in and out of their homes. What do you have for somebody who has moved or needs to register because they have come into a new voting district? What do they need to do? When it comes to document uploads, what are you doing there when it comes to providing the the identification and proof of address if somebody is trying to register to vote?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
There are a couple of aspects to your question. I hope I'll be able to answer them.
On the basic point—which is a very valid one—we would never move fully or exclusively to an online application. There always has to be a telephone interaction with a real person or service point interaction for people who do not have access to a computer or who are not literate in using it. It's about adding channels, not removing channels.
For the online application system, voters would upload their identification documents as they do right now when they register online. We already have this process in place for registering. We do not have widespread online application available for special ballots for most Canadians, although there are technical exceptions.
I'm sorry, I think there was a third component to your question that I may have lost.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
This is one of the things I want to focus on. Going through the CERB programs and different things like that—and I think every member of Parliament would be trying to be there for their constituents—we're going to see the same matter where we have people who need assistance to register. They will need that type of assistance.
As I have said, people have been isolated. There really isn't that opportunity to go into peoples' homes to assist them because of the concerns about COVID-19. I understand that we want to make it as easy as possible, but if a senior is isolating and does not have the ability to go online and upload it and does not feel comfortable going to an Elections Canada office, what are their options for getting a ballot?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They can register by phone, but they will still have to provide documentary proof of their identity. They will have—
Conservative
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They will need some assistance. They will have to mail in some copies of their documents. I recognize this will—
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Okay, so, they don't have computer access or the computer access is limited. I don't even have a printer in my home because nothing seems to ever be compatible. What are we going to ask these seniors to do? If they aren't able to leave their homes and they are not able to use the computer, how can they get their ballots?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
If you look at the by-elections, you will see that we've been working with the local administrators and their staff in assisting the residents with that. There's no doubt that we will need that degree of collaboration because we need to maintain the safeguards around how we vote, and we need to find the right balance. However, if we cannot have access to the residents, then we will need to rely on the assistance of the workers there. I recognize that, in some cases, the workers are stretched and this will be a challenge. That's the reality in which we find ourselves.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Let's say that my sister wants to register my parents. Would she be able to take their identification and go to the Elections Canada office? If she is feeling safe, would she be able to go there and present so that she could make sure that a ballot is then sent to my parents? It's just a hypothetical question.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
She could, but she would have to make sure that the information is completed and that your parents have signed the documents before she carries them there.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
We're talking about her going to the Elections Canada office, picking up the appropriate forms, going to my parents' house to get them signed, and then going back to that Elections Canada office to make sure that happens. So it would be two trips. Is that what we're looking at? I use my parents because I think there are so many parents out there.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
It's not necessarily two trips. She could assist your parents to make an application by phone, receive a kit or go online to fill out a PDF—assisting your parents because I understand that your parents may not be at ease doing that—to make an online application to the extent that it's available at the time of the election.
The application for the kit itself, for the form itself, could be obtained. She would then assist them in filling out the information and mail it back to the returning office if it's a paper version or carry it back. Then the kit would be mailed to your parents. At that point, they would fill it out and mail it back, or somebody could help them return it. There are different scenarios there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Thank you to both of you. It's a very important question.
Next we have Mr. Turnbull for five minutes.