Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Nov. 5th, 2020

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

To really minimize the risks, people can vote by mail. This would be the safest way to vote.

As Dr. Shahab said, the other very safe way to vote would be to ensure more designated advance polling locations. This would decrease the number of people voting on election day.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Dr. Shahab, is it worth considering the idea of having people go to the polls on a designated day according to the first letter of their last name, in order to better spread out the turnout?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

I would not be able to comment. I think having too rigid a protocol may reduce voter turnout.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Dr. Shahab.

Next we have Mr. Blaikie for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

We've heard in the testimony so far that even if the voting process itself is safe, provided that directions are followed as they should be, in the event of an extreme outbreak people's confidence in the safety of the process might be shaken.

In your opinion, whom does it properly belong to to make a decision or a call about the point at which—even if the public health orders are good and would permit a voting process that's safe from a health point of view—it would not be appropriate to have an election for fear that voter turnout would simply be too low because people are concerned or worried about their personal health if they engage in that voting process? Who do you think ought to make that call? Is it public health officials? Is it election authorities, or is it the political side of the equation?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

Maybe I can start. It is about thinking about the unthinkable. If we had a situation that we in Canada have not seen but some parts of the world have seen, where ICUs and hospitals are overrun and there's quite a lot of concern, I think, certainly, it would be up to the government and Elections Saskatchewan to see the feasibility of conducting an election in a situation where there may be very low voter turnout.

The role of public health would be to intervene if elections were being conducted in a way that was not safe. That should not be happening, either when the case rates are low, as they were in Saskatchewan, or when they are high. The process should be safe in any case.

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

Dr. Russell, where do you think that decision ought to be made? Is it with public health officials, with election authorities, or is it really on the political side that a call has to be made about the risk to turnout, and, by implication, the legitimacy of the election? Is that something that politicians decide, or somebody else?

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

I don't think it's public health, because, again, our advice is on how to make it safe. In terms of the voter confidence in how safe it is, obviously the mail-in ballot is a very safe way to vote. Again, we can only give our advice about how to make it as safe as possible, no matter what the setting is in terms of outbreaks and cases.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

Mr. Doherty, you have five minutes, please.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Dr. Shahab and Dr. Werker, were you consulted by the premiers on how elections should be conducted in the context of a pandemic?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

My recommendations were only provided to Elections Saskatchewan. Any discussions that happened further to that were by the electoral advisory group, where the House leaders of both political parties were present, along with me and the chief electoral officer.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Okay.

Dr. Russell, I have the same question for you.

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

I exchanged information in writing with the elections officials, but I know that we had people from public health working with Elections New Brunswick folks. As for the only conversation I had, the premier phoned me at one point and he let the public know that he had spoken to Dr. Russell and was comfortable holding the election, but I didn't tell him whether to hold an election or not. He just wanted the comfort of knowing that he was able to speak with me.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Dr. Shahab, you spoke of your electoral advisory board. Who comprised that?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

That had me and Dr. Werker from the office of the chief medical health officer. It was called by the CEO of Elections Saskatchewan, Dr. Michael Boda. It had two further members, the House leaders of the two main political parties.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

How often did you meet?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

We met once a month for four months, June to September.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Did you meet throughout the election as well?

[Dr. Saqib Shahab]

We did not meet during the writ period.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Dr. Russell, on the same question, did you have an electoral advisory committee as well?

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

I'm not sure. Again, I know that I had public health employees who worked on the official advice and would have interacted with the ElectionsNB employees.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

This question is for both of you. You said you reviewed the plans of Elections New Brunswick and Elections Saskatchewan. Did you periodically check in? Were there regional health officers or public health officers who went to polling stations to make sure that everything was being maintained?

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

I'm not sure who would have done inspections. We would have had public health inspectors who could have helped with that, but also WorkSafeNB inspectors could have helped in the situations where there seemed to be complaints or what have you, which people did go to inspect.

With respect to the plan, we reviewed the plan that was presented and helped make suggestions for improving it and changing it. Again, there was collaboration in that way.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

What types of complaints did you receive?

[Dr. Jennifer Russell]

Well, there's the one I mentioned about the lack of wheelchair accessibility for one of the voting sites.