House of Commons Hansard #98 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was election.

Topics

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB

Madam Speaker, I thank our colleague from London—Fanshawe. The government and I share her view that Canadians expect the government, and I would argue all parliamentarians, at a time of a pandemic when there is a difficult third wave wreaking very difficult consequences on a number of regions of our country, to remain solely focused on what we as a parliament and certainly what we as a government can do to protect Canadians and support them during COVID. That has been the focus of our government.

As I said earlier, we do not vote no confidence in our own government. I appreciate there is a double negative there, but I think Parliament can understand. Some NDP members voted no confidence when they supported a Bloc subamendment on a budget vote. I think there has to be some consequential thinking and Parliament needs to accept its responsibility to improve the election—

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

One last question, the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

Warren Steinley Conservative Regina—Lewvan, SK

Madam Speaker, I enjoyed the clever wordplay by my colleagues from the Liberal Party. What I said was this. When bills go to committee, sometimes, like with Bill C-10, they come back in worse shape because of terrible amendments put forward by the government. I would hate for that to happen to something as critical as this democratic bill, Bill C-19. When I say we should have more debate in the House of Commons, that means this bill deserves more than three hours and 45 minutes of debate.

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the hypocrisy of the Conservatives objecting to time allocation. I sat in the House of Commons many times and watch them vote the exact opposite of what they are now claiming.

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time and put forthwith the question on the motion now before the House.

The question is on the motion.

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.

Bill C-19—Time Allocation MotionCanada Elections ActGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #109

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

I declare the motion carried.

I wish to inform the House that because of the proceedings on the time allocation motion, Government Orders will be extended by 30 minutes.

The House resumed from May 7, 2021 consideration of the motion that Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Lethbridge has one minute remaining in her debate time.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with the member for Thornhill.

As I was saying during my last opportunity to speak to this bill, the pandemic has really exposed the true colours of the current government and where its focus lies. What I am talking about, of course, is the crafting of this legislation, Bill C-19. The Liberals have done this at a rapid pace and have done it without clear consultation, or I should say attention given to consultation.

It is undeniable that this bill was unilaterally constructed on behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada and that it is being pushed forward to the Liberals' benefit and not at all to the benefit of Canadians, which is very concerning to me. Our focus as parliamentarians should be on the Canadian people, on their health, their safety and their well-being. This bill does not take those things into account.

We need to see an economic recovery plan, not a Liberal election plan, which again is exactly what—

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

We have to go to questions and comments.

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Madam Speaker, what we are really debating here is a piece of legislation that will be used in the event that an election happens during this global pandemic. Despite the fact that all parties have said that they are not interested in having an election happen any time soon, we have to respect the fact that this is a minority Parliament and one could happen at any time.

I am very perplexed when trying to understand why the Conservatives do not just want to be prepared. Can the member comment on what she has against being prepared in the event that an election might happen?

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Madam Speaker, I have no problem with our being prepared. To be prepared for an election during the pandemic would mean that the Liberals put a sunset clause in place. After all, if this legislation is truly just for the time being during a pandemic, then there is no reason why that should not be the case, and that this actually would expire once the pandemic is over. That seems like a reasonable amendment, does it not?

The other thing is that at the end of the day this legislation should take into account what experts have said. Experts are certainly not encouraging that we would go into long-term care facilities and run the election for 13 days.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Madam Speaker, it is good to enter the discussion on this important subject. We are seeing a debacle of epic proportions on Bill C-10, a bill that the minister obviously does not even understand. There are a lot of questions that Canadians have around Bill C-19 and its effect on what is one of the key things that the House is required to do, and that is to be the custodian of Canada's democracy.

Are there any parallels between the debacle that is currently unfolding with Bill C-10 and what is possible with Bill C-19, especially if the bill goes to committee, and now that the Liberals have limited debate and discussion on Bill C-19?

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Madam Speaker, the hon. member points out something really important, and that is, first, that we need to acknowledge the fact that the Liberals just moved time allocation, which means they are trying to rush this legislation through without fulsome debate. That is very problematic because it is chipping away at democracy.

The second point the member raises is with regard to Bill C-10, which has to do with government censorship of the information that we post on our social media platforms. This is a huge overreach on behalf of the government and something that is not properly researched.

Interestingly enough, Bill C-19 is one and the same, where, again, I believe it goes too far and ignores the voices of witnesses and those who have expertise in this area. It is shameful.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Beauséjour New Brunswick

Liberal

Dominic LeBlanc LiberalPresident of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Madam Speaker, I want to acknowledge my colleague from Lethbridge's comments a few minutes ago. She thought that it would be a good amendment at committee to have a sunset clause. The good news is that we do not need to amend it at committee to include a sunset clause, because I would draw her attention to clause 11, which provides exactly what she was suggesting the committee look at.

I am wondering if the member for Lethbridge could tell us how many times in the last two months she has stood in her place and voted no confidence in the government, obviously seeking an election during the pandemic. How many times did she stand and vote no confidence looking for an election?

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Madam Speaker, I fail to see the relevance.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Bloc

Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Salaberry—Suroît, QC

Madam Speaker, my question is for my Conservative colleague.

We just started debating Bill C-19, and the government has allocated just three hours and 38 minutes for debate. We can only assume that the government's poor management of its legislative agenda is at fault here.

What does my colleague think is the true reason we are debating time allocation on Bill C-19 today, with the connivance of the NDP?

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Madam Speaker, I am sorry, but I do not know that I fully understand the member's question.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to finally have the opportunity to rise to speak to Bill C-19, if in the shadow of time allocation. I will get to aspects of the bill that I consider worthy and a number of provisions that I believe should be amended in committee, in a moment, but first I will address a number of the underlying issues that have affected the way this bill was mismanaged in its creation, as so many other pieces of legislation have been similarly in this Parliament.

The crux of the problem is not the COVID pandemic. The crux of the problem is the arrogance of the current government to approach virtually every practice and procedure as though it won a majority in 2019. The Liberals refuse to recognize the range of realities, most importantly the pragmatic humility a minority government must practise to govern effectively. The current Liberal government, as in the last Parliament, has ignored committee studies, reports and recommendations in the creation of legislation dealing with critically important issues, such as privacy, foreign affairs, the digital charter, regulating the Internet, medical assistance in dying, and now Bill C-19, an amendment to the Canada Elections Act, provisionally, for a possible general election in this pandemic, a pandemic that will last much longer because of the government's inability to properly procure vaccines and to accept Conservative advice when the pandemic first struck and at every stage since.

The Liberals, with selfish impatience, introduced Bill C-19 last December, not waiting for the completion of a long and thorough study on essential amendments to the Canada Elections Act to protect public health and democracy during a possible pandemic election. An interim report by the committee was, at the time, within days of being presented to the government. That report was pre-empted by Bill C-19, ignoring the suggestions of the exhaustive study and disrespecting not only opposition members on the committee and the many expert witnesses who testified during the study, but the Liberal chair and Liberal committee members, who had worked collegially with the opposition to develop comprehensive recommendations for such an important study.

The Liberals clearly intended then to rush the legislation through Parliament, as they have done with so many other flawed pieces of legislation from the beginning of the pandemic, but in this case the rush was not to help Canadians still in the grips of the pandemic, and it was not to prepare a plan for economic recovery to get Canadians back to work; it was in the political self-interest of preparing for the snap election they were thinking they might get away with. In doing so, they not only disregarded the work of parliamentarians, but wasted the valuable time of health officials and elections experts who appeared during the thorough procedure and House affairs committee study.

In doing so, they ignored the reality that an overwhelming majority of Canadians did not want then, and do not want now, a general election in a deepening pandemic crisis. If the Liberals had any doubts, that was surely driven home in the subsequent cycle of spiking infections and death across the country and the provincial elections conducted under pandemic conditions, most notably the profoundly disrupted Newfoundland and Labrador election.

The interim report of the committee contained extensive, reasoned advice based on the testimony of expert witnesses that would have improved Bill C-19 before it was tabled, but the final report of our committee, submitted to the government in February of this year, provided even more important advice. Most important, the committee advised the government and recommended unanimously, every Liberal member on the committee as well, that the federal government commit to not calling a federal election during the pandemic, unless defeated on a vote of confidence.

Further, Conservative members of the committee wrote a supplementary report, which reiterated the recommendation against holding a pandemic election and elaborated, noting that Bill C-19 was uninformed by the extensive content of the committee report and stating very clearly that the government has a moral obligation to refrain from triggering an election or orchestrating its own downfall, as the Prime Minister has already tried to do a number of times.

Because of the government's inability to manage its own legislative agenda, the bill before us has had precious few hours of debate.

A key element of Bill C-19 involves the change of the usual designation of an election day to be an election period of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, rather than just Monday, to provide more time for voting, social distancing and the precautions necessary to provide safe voting places. The bill also provides for the extension of voting hours of polls, if necessary to midnight, on any polling day, but not to exceed 28 hours for the three-day election period.

The bill also changes the maximum writ period to 53 days because of the many challenges anticipated for in-person voting or involving mail-in ballots. With regard to mail-in ballots, the bill allows electronic applications to be made with proper security protocols, of course, for mail-in ballots. They are very detailed provisions, which I believe would secure the safety of those ballots. There are also provisions for the safe casting of votes in institutions, in facilities where seniors and persons with disabilities reside.

I will support all of those provisions in the bill, on the condition that they expire automatically, completely and absolutely six months after the pandemic period is considered to have ended.

However, there are a number of elements in this legislation that I strongly oppose and believe should be amended. I believe they must be amended at committee, our procedure and House affairs committee, which was so ignored and so disrespected by the original tabling of this legislation in December.

First and foremost, there is a provision for counting mail-in ballots after the end of the official three-day election period. Given the new powers granted the Chief Electoral Officer for early mail-in ballots and extended poll hours, there is absolutely no reason, no excuse, for any ballots received after polls close on election day to be counted. Election day must be decision day.

As well, while I accept the extension of pandemic powers to the Chief Electoral Officer, I oppose the provision that would expand his determination of “satisfactory proof of the elector's identity and residence”. Pandemic protocols should not enable greater voter fraud than already exists in non-pandemic elections.

In conclusion, I want to remind all members of this House of the unanimous recommendation of the procedure and House affairs committee, each and every Liberal member included, that the federal government must commit to not calling a federal election during this continuing pandemic, unless it is defeated on a vote of confidence.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:35 p.m.

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON

Madam Speaker, I do not think it would matter if this had been tabled three years ago. The reality is that the Conservatives do not even appear to have read the bill. The member for Lethbridge was just talking about wishing that there would be a sunset clause in this, which is mentioned in the preamble, and then again later in clause 11 of the bill. The member for Elgin—Middlesex—London, who is a member of the PROC committee, did not even know that there was a sunset clause in this bill, and this bill falls under the committee that she sits on. I do not think this narrative of “We haven't had enough time” is warranted. We have had the bill for six months and clearly they have not even read it.

This member is also a member of the PROC committee, which I have a ton of respect for. I thank him for mentioning the fact that there is a sunset clause in the bill, acknowledging that and, to his credit, advocating so vehemently to make sure that this sunset clause is honoured.

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:35 p.m.

Conservative

Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his somewhat disingenuous questions. I would like to address the matter of timing.

The bill was rushed to introduction in December, again, pre-empting the interim report of the PROC committee. This committee has been filibustered by the Liberal minority on the committee for more than two months, because the Liberals do not want to recognize the will of all the opposition parties to call a relevant witness to appear for one meeting. For the last month, the Liberals have filibustered their own amendment.

I am wondering if the rush now, as the bill is eventually forwarded to the PROC committee, is to allow—

Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders

1:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé.