Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
This amendment relates to proposed section 482.01, which is the false statements offence. There are a number of examples of an offence that could be established in respect of a false statement or in respect of a number of things that are enumerated in the clause.
This amendment would remove paragraph 482.01(g) of proposed section 482.01, which is “the preliminary, validated or official results of an election.”
There are a few reasons that I have put forward this amendment. The first is that, as we heard from Gerald Chipeur, a long-standing, respected constitutional lawyer, there are free speech implications at play.
Second, it seems that this paragraph is a solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist. Third, it could have a chilling effect in respect of questions that often occur in elections when there are questions about the outcome or the results of an election, such as what happened in Terrebonne. For those reasons, I would encourage the committee to support the amendment.