Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

Yes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Is pre-symptomatic spread possible, yes or no?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

Yes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Is it possible to look at our largest communities in the country—say, the top 10—and table the same information that I asked for from the provinces to really show that regional variation? Again, we are looking at elections, and a one-size approach is not going to fit all. Would that be possible?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I'm sorry. Do you mean for the cities?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Yes.

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I am not sure we have that level of detail, but we can verify if it is available, certainly.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you so much, Dr. Raymond and Dr. Henry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Next we have Dr.... Sorry, all the doctors in the room have got me going. Unless you want to correct me, Mr. Therrien, you are up next for six minutes.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have only a master's degree in economics, not a Ph.D.

Good morning, ladies. Thank you for being here. It's an honour to have you.

I have a question for Ms. Henry and one for Ms. Raymond, so I'll try to manage my time accordingly.

What was the biggest problem you ran into as far as voting by telephone or by mail was concerned?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

I actually think the mail-in voting worked really well. The challenge we have is the way the Election Act is written here. There's a delay period, where every single one of the mail-in ballots has to be verified, and there's a delay period before they can be counted. With the large number we have, we need to make that process more efficient.

The telephone voting is very limited. It's not something that could be done for large numbers of people, so it was reserved for those people who couldn't vote any other way.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Could voters make sure their ballots had been received in time? In other words, was there any confirmation that their vote had been counted?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

I don't know the answer to that question. I believe there was a process.

I know there were some concerns with some of the envelopes. Elections BC was able to reassure people that they were aware that some of the envelopes had become sealed before they were received by the voter. There were concerns that they would look like they were tampered with. Elections B.C. was able to address that issue.

I don't know if they can tell an individual whether their individual package was obtained, but they do have a process that's quite rigorous to ensure that somebody doesn't vote twice. If you voted on voting day and then a mail-in package...they can make sure that doesn't....

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

I am going to come back to you later.

Now I'll to turn to Ms. Raymond.

If I understand correctly, Ms. Raymond, you leave some jurisdiction to Quebec's public health agency, as well as the respective agencies of the provinces and territories.

Does that mean you're somewhat limited in the advice you can give, because you give those agencies room to manoeuvre?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

The role of the Public Health Agency is to provide guidance and advice. We do not specify, regulate, or tell anyone what to do. We do not surrender jurisdictions to the provinces and territories. The jurisdiction is theirs for public health within their jurisdiction.

We always engage. That's common practice in public health.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

All right. I see.

Elections Canada administers elections. It will turn to your agency for advice. Since the COVID-19 situation varies from province to province, Elections Canada will ask the provinces to adapt the process to their respective realities. Is that correct?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

Yes. Essentially, we have had to adapt our activities in many aspects of our lives. The recommendations that are in place in, say, St. John's, Newfoundland, are quite different from those in Toronto, Ontario or in Vancouver, B.C. That is true, yes.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

When your advice differs from that given by a province or by Quebec, what happens if you can't come to some sort of agreement? It is a possibility. I'm not pointing any fingers; I'm just trying to understand what happens in that case.

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

I referenced earlier that there is a federal-provincial-territorial special advisory committee, or the SAC, which meets twice a week. Dr. Henry is on that committee, as are the chief medical officers of health from all jurisdictions.

We have not encountered a situation where we have not been able to resolve a fundamental difference. There are general principles, but we recognize there are factors that will determine implementation differently, and we respect that across jurisdictions.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

I see. Thank you.

Rapid testing has started arriving in Canada and Quebec. How will rapid testing play a role in the election? What would make a big difference? How would such an improvement help?

[Dr. Barbara Raymond]

To be frank, the use of rapid testing for elections is not something that would necessarily be all that feasible at this moment in time, but it is an evolving development that could be considered as we move into the future.

The important considerations are the availability and access to rapid testing, and whether that is, in fact, the best use of a scarce resource, but that is definitely something that would be evolving over time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Dr. Raymond. That's all the time we have for this questioner.

Next, we have Mr. Blaikie.

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

Thank you very much.

Thank you to both of you for taking time out of your important work on behalf of Canadians to share some of that time with us here at committee.

Dr. Henry, in the recent B.C. election, did you find there were particular groups of people who, as a result of public health orders, faced particular barriers to voting? I'm thinking of indigenous communities that might have had a travel ban in place. I'm thinking of people living with disabilities, and students who might typically vote on campus who may not have had the option.

Could you speak a little bit to those kinds of particular demographic challenges, who was affected and what you learned in terms of how to mitigate some of those barriers to voting?

[Dr. Bonnie Henry]

We did address some of those issues early on with Elections BC, particularly with first nations communities. We knew that several communities in the province had restrictions on people moving in and out of their jurisdictions because of the pandemic. I know specific electoral officers were recruited from within the community to facilitate communities being able to safely vote. That was done on a one-on-one basis with the communities. It really speaks to the importance of early connection with public health, but also with communities to ensure that those needs are met.

For many people, including students and people with disabilities, mail-in ballots were incredibly helpful. For people who didn't want to go out into the community, because they perceived they were themselves at risk, the mail-in option was a really important one. For some people who were not able to leave their home, and for whom mail-in ballots weren't an option, telephone voting was put in place, particularly for people with disabilities. We also had telephone voting available for people who were sick with COVID, who would not want to leave their home, as well as for people who were in public health-mandated quarantine.

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

Thank you very much.

Dr. Raymond, does the Public Health Agency of Canada foresee similar challenges? If so, what are some of the groups that Elections Canada ought to be thinking about to facilitate their voting because public health orders may present unique challenges to them?