Mr. Speaker, I move:
That Bill C-63, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Referendum Act, be forthwith referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
I want to begin by speaking briefly about the objectives of the bill. This bill would create a permanent register of electors and would set 36 days as the minimum period for a federal election campaign. The bill achieves this by a vast series of amendments to the Canada Elections Act.
Following passage of the legislation, one last door to door enumeration would take place outside of a federal electoral event. This last enumeration would likely be conducted in the spring of 1997. The enumeration would serve as the basis for the preliminary list of electors to be distributed within five days following the issuing of the writs for the next federal general election. The enumeration would also serve as the basis for a permanent register of electors which would be fully operational for other subsequent electoral events. The campaign for the next general election and subsequent elections therefore would last a minimum of 36 days rather than the present 47 days, of course, if the bill becomes law in a timely fashion.
The permanent register of electors, once created, would be updated with information from existing federal and provincial databases; names, addresses and birth dates from income tax returns filed with Revenue Canada; lists of new Canadian citizens compiled by Citizenship and Immigration Canada; and data from provincial registrars of vital statistics and provincial registrars of drivers and vehicle licences. The permanent register would also be augmented by proven provincial electoral lists.
I want to stress that personal information taken from federal data sources to update the register would be used only with the active informed consent of the individuals involved. I understand that the federal privacy commissioner had been fully consulted before the preparation of this legislation. I understand he has expressed himself as being satisfied with the steps that have been taken to meet concerns he had earlier expressed on issues of privacy.
This bill stems from the report of the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing, the Lortie Commission, and from the recommendations made by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada.
I am very happy with the extensive consultations held with the three recognized political parties and the other parties in the House of Commons before this bill was drafted. I want to thank all the members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs as well as Mr. Kingsley, the Chief Electoral Officer, and his staff for their contribution and efforts in carrying out this project.
The permanent register, which would eliminate door to door enumeration, together with a shortened election period would save the federal government about $30 million for each federal general election. Actually, the saving is not for the government but ultimately for each and every Canadian as taxpayers. Sharing the register with provinces, municipalities and some school boards for their elections would generate additional savings for Canadians as provincial and municipal taxpayers. I should add that the shortened election period would generate about $8 million of the $30 million savings to the federal government and federal taxpayers for each federal general election.
To conclude, a few words about why I believe this bill should go to committee before second reading. While the objectives of the bill are simple, achieving them requires a large number of complex amendments to our existing election law. This is the kind of measure for which the new approach of studying a bill in committee before second reading is, in my view, ideal.
If the amendments that Bill C-63 proposes require adjustment or fine tuning, if there are further amendments to help achieve the purposes of the bill and its objectives more effectively, then it is easier for the government to consider positively and in fact accept amendments before the principle of the bill is voted on at second reading in the House. I want to say that I am certainly open to positive consideration of further amendments that would help the system proposed by the bill to work better in the interests of all Canadians.
It is also proposed that the bill go to the procedure committee of the House of Commons where there are a number of members of various parties who are already familiar with the issues and concepts involved with this bill. Therefore, I commend to the House not only the bill itself, but this motion that it be referred to the procedure committee for detailed study before second reading.