Mr. Speaker, I rise to respond to a question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster. He took issue with a comment that I made on the floor, which I will cite verbatim. I stated:
There are regular reports of people receiving multiple cards and using them to vote multiple times. That, too, can be found on the Elections Canada website.
The cards in question are the voter information cards Elections Canada provides to electors who are on the voters list to indicate to them where and when they can cast their ballots.
The second sentence in my statement is as follows:
That, too, can be found on the Elections Canada website.
That, of course, is used as a pronoun here and refers to multiple voting and multiple cards. Therefore, let us check whether Elections Canada's website does, in fact, have cases that deal with either or both of those. I turn members' attention to that website, and I will share a few URLs, which are too long to list here on the floor, but I am sure members will have no problem finding them.
For example, I turn members' attention to the Commissioner of Canada Elections' compliance agreement, which states:
This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9 (hereafter referred to as the “Act”).
On September 20, 2013, and pursuant to section 517 of the Act, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a compliance agreement with Ms. Laura-Emmanuelle Gagné (hereafter referred to as the “Contracting Party”), of the city of Montréal, Quebec, who was an elector in the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie during the 2011 federal general election.
The Contracting Party has acknowledged acts that may have constituted a failure to comply with section 7 of the Act, which provides that no elector who has voted at an election may request a second ballot at that election.
The Contracting Party has acknowledged that, on May 2, 2011, polling day for the 2011 federal general election, she voted in the Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie electoral district before proceeding that same day to the Laurier—Sainte-Marie electoral district and requesting and obtaining a second ballot.
Specifically, the Contracting Party has acknowledged the following:
During the period leading up to the May 2, 2011, federal general election, she received two voter information cards in her name, one for the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, in which she resided, and one for the neighbouring electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, in which she did not reside.
On May 2, 2011, she went to polling division No. 103 in the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie with three unidentified persons and a hidden camera provided by those persons, and voted.
That same day, she went to polling division No. 002 in the electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, and found that her name had been struck off the list of electors for that electoral district and moved to the list of electors for the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
Given that her name had been struck off the list of electors for the electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, she asked to register using a registration certificate so that she might vote, then requested and obtained another ballot, which she completed before spoiling it.
She erroneously believed that spoiling the second ballot meant that she was not committing an offence under the Act.
The hoax in which she took part was broadcast on May 5, 2011, on Infoman, a show produced by Zone3 Inc., on Radio-Canada.
The Contracting Party has accepted responsibility for these acts, and she is now aware of section 7 of the Act and the offence provision at paragraph 483(b) of the Act.
There we have one example of someone receiving multiple voting cards, enabling the possibility of voting more than once. She obtained two ballots as a result of having two voter information cards and having been allowed to use those cards for that said purpose.
I have a second case, which is almost identical. I am not going to repeat all the same language, because it is pro forma, but the second example is of Mr. Simon Poulin, hereinafter referred to as “The Contracting Party”, and I quote:
...he voted in the Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie electoral district before proceeding that same day to the Laurier—Sainte-Marie electoral district and requesting and obtaining a second ballot.
It goes on to say:
During the period leading up to the May 2, 2011, federal general election, he received two voter information cards in his name, one for the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, in which he resided, and one for the neighbouring electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, in which he did not reside.
On May 2, 2011, he went to polling division No. 103 in the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie with three unidentified persons and a hidden camera provided by those persons, and voted.
That same day, he went to polling division No. 002 in the electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, and found that his name had been struck off the list of electors for that electoral district and moved to the list of electors for the electoral district of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
Given that his name had been struck off the list of electors for the electoral district of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, he asked to register using a registration certificate so that he might vote, then requested and obtained another ballot, which he completed before spoiling it.
This is evidence of people receiving multiple voting cards, which enables the practice of multiple voting.
I will move on to additional examples.
On December 5, 2011 the Commissioner of Canada Elections, pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act, entered into a compliance agreement with Mr. Jacques Nadeau (hereinafter referred to as the Contracting Party)...
The contracting party has acknowledged that he voted by special ballot in the office of the returning office for the electoral district of Mégantic--L'Érable on April 20, 2011. He also acknowledged that he wilfully requested a second ballot for the same electoral district at the advance poll on April 25, 2011.
That case, I should point out, did not involve the use of the voter information card. However, going back to my original statement, I referred in general terms to the phenomenon of multiple voting, and this case is one such example.
I will now move on to a fourth example of dealing with the issue of multiple voting. On June 27, 2006, the commissioner entered into a compliance agreement with the contracting party, who is from Montreal, and I quote:
In this agreement, the contracting party admits to acts that constitute an offence under section 7 of the Canada Elections Act, as she registered and requested a second special ballot on January 12, 2006, in the electoral district of Jeanne-Le Ber, after having already voted by special ballot in the same electoral district on December 5, 2005, with the mistaken belief that in the case of the first vote, it was in a by-election.
Now I move on to a fifth example of multiple voting, which is also on the Elections Canada website:
In this agreement, the contracting party admits to acts that constitute an offence under section 7 of the Canada Elections Act, as she registered and requested a second ballot on polling day, June 28, 2004, in the electoral district of Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, after having already voted at an advance poll in the electoral district of Huron—Bruce...
This case is where someone voted twice, once in each riding. This was based on the mistaken belief that if a person has two residences, a person can vote twice, something that is obviously not true and something that this particular elector has since learned and acknowledged.
I have a sixth example. On July 20, 2006, the commissioner entered into an agreement with the contracting party, of the city of Stephenville. It is an issue whereby the individual in question requested a second ballot on January 23, 2006, in the electoral district of Random—Burin—St. George's, after having already voted in the advance poll in the same electoral district on January 16, 2006.
There is a seventh example. The commissioner signed an agreement with a citizen from Woodstock, Ontario. The offence, again, was that the person requested a second ballot in the 2004 election in the riding of Toronto—Danforth after having already voted in the advance poll in the electoral district of Oxford.
I have just given seven examples of multiple voting, and I gave two examples where the receipt of multiple voter information cards occurred and led to electors seeking a second ballot after they had already voted. Therefore, if you look to my original comments, you will find that they were indeed accurate.
All the examples I have shared with the House are found on Elections Canada's website, which is precisely what I suggested in my statement. Therefore, my comments are an accurate reflection of the reality people would find if they went to that site, and I stand by the comments.