Mr. Speaker, people all over Canada are concerned about what the Conservative government is doing with respect to Bill C-23. In fact there were 3,000-plus delegates at the Liberal Party convention, and one of the priority resolutions was on this issue.
If I could quote directly from it, it says:
Whereas, instead of correcting these problems, Bill C-23 will amend the Canada Elections Act by:Further restricting access to voting by disallowing vouching for voters, thereby preventing approximately 120,000 Canadians from voting;Threatening the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, by making this position part of government rather than leaving it with Elections Canada, which is independently answerable to Parliament;Prohibiting the Chief Electoral Officer from communicating broadly with Canadians;
This is my personal favourite:
Hampering investigations into election breaches, by failing to give the Commissioner the power to compel witnesses to answer questions or provide documents;
This issue is very serious. The question we really need to get answered is why the government opposes taking this committee to Canadians by taking it to different cities in Canada in different regions so that Canadians have an opportunity to express their concerns directly to the government on a fundamental law that affects one of our principle foundations, that being democracy.
Why does the member think the government is so tough in not wanting to go outside Ottawa to hear what Canadians have to say?