Madam Speaker, we were discussing the possibility of amending this bill, whose motivation seems to be totally commendable and justifiable to the extent that, as the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce pointed out, it would be of service to democracy that as much information as possible be provided on candidates running for office.
There is no doubt that the motivation for this bill is very appropriate and deserves to be supported. However, the wording of the bill seems to pose a bit of a problem, since a photograph of the candidates would only be affixed if two or more candidates had an identical name.
This obviously creates a problem for the other candidates, who would not have their photos on the ballot. In a way, this would almost be placing these other candidates in what would no longer be a level playing field, since some candidates could be identified on the ballot by their facial features but not others.
From the moment that, in an election campaign, there are posters on telephone poles or balconies showing the facial features of candidates—and we all know how important that is—to have one's picture on telephone poles or balconies, to have the photographs of just a few candidates on a ballot would be detrimental to those whose picture would not appear.
It is our view that, in its present form, Bill C-405 is totally unacceptable. There will, I imagine, be the possibility of proposing an amendment at either the committee or the report stage, or even today, why not, by unanimous consent. I will make a motion to that effect at the end of my speech. I will be seconded in this by my colleague for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, whom I would invite to return to his seat so that he may do so.
As I said earlier, the motivation for this bill is most commendable, because the more information one has on candidates, the more able one is to make an enlightened decision. This is, of course, particularly true when the names of candidates are confusing.
For example, let us take my first name. For many anglophones, Stéphane looks like a girl's name because it ends in the same way as Suzanne or Joanne. I remember within a few days of my election getting mail from all over Canada addressing me as Mrs. Stéphane Bergeron, and those who were not completely sure added a letter to my name, making me into Mrs. Stéphanie Bergeron, convinced that there had been a mistake in my first name.
For many anglophones, my name is a woman's name. For the few anglophones in my riding—and they are not very many—this can indeed represent a problem. I imagine that this could be the case for a large number of candidates running for office, who have confusing names.
This idea of having candidates' pictures on the ballot is an excellent one as well for those of our fellow citizens who are unfortunately unable to read, or whose language is written with another alphabet, and therefore are at a disadvantage compared to other voters when it comes to making a choice on election day.
There is no doubt that this is an interesting bill. But in fact, as I said, the provisions, as they appeared in the bill, are totally unacceptable in our opinion.
Consequently, I would like to propose an amendment, and I invite all my colleagues to support it. I move:
That all candidates be identified on the ballot by means of a photo of approximately 3 cm by 1.8 cm taken within the year preceding nomination day.
I must point out that this amendment, drafted carefully by my colleague from Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, which I introduce with his support, is entirely in keeping with clause 1 of the bill.