moved that Bill C-405, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (ballot papers), be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, I thank House and committee members for allowing debate of Bill C-405, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (ballot papers).
I introduced this bill in May 1998 in order to do something about people with bad intentions. As many of us know, some malicious individuals run candidates with similar or identical names. For instance, in 1988, in the riding of Verdun—Saint-Paul where I was a candidate, one of the candidates on the ballot papers was named Lavergne. He was a representative of the Green Party and got a lot of votes.
In 1993, the same party had a candidate whose name bore no resemblance to any of the other candidates. The party received very few votes.
In 1997, in the riding of Outremont, the name of one of the candidates was similar to that of the member who was representing the riding in the House at the time. Fortunately, people trusted this member and re-elected him without too much trouble.
Today, in the Ontario provincial election, there are two candidates with similar names in the riding of Casselman. One is named Jean-Marc Lalonde and the other Alain Lalonde. With situations like this, one might well think that there are people who want to reduce a candidate's majority, or eliminate him altogether.
I believe it is unfair to someone who has worked like mad to run for a political party to see certain people doing such things. That is why I have introduced a private member's bill to counteract the actions of malicious people, who may be found in all of the ridings across Canada.
I will go still further and state that the photographs of candidates ought to be on every ballot, and I will tell you why. After I introduced my bill last May, I received a letter from an organization that works with literacy, Carrefour d'éducation pour l'alphabétisation, asking me to add a clause to the effect that all candidates should have their photograph on the ballots.
I will explain why. As hon. members are aware, illiterate people have trouble voting. I remember back to 1980 when I helped a lady to do so, on behalf of an organization for the mentally handicapped. The organization was made up of about 18 mentally handicapped persons. Over 19 years, we managed to get 150 mentally retarded people out of the back rooms in which their families had hidden them out of shame.
If hon. members could only realize how much help the simple addition of a photo would be to the illiterate, who do not get out and vote because they are embarrassed at not being able to read.
When I was campaigning door to door in 1997, people would tell me “Mr. Lavigne, I will not be voting. It is not that I do not want to vote for you. I would like to, and I could vote for you if there was a photo of you. But I cannot read, and I do not know where to go”. I told them they just had to pick the third name down and they said “Yes, but what if I make a mistake and I pick the fourth one?” If there were photos, all these people would have the same right to vote as everyone else.
There are many services for the disabled in Quebec and in Canada. A few months ago, with funding from the Government of Canada, I formed an association with young lawyers to make the disabled aware of their rights. We even opened an office in Canada, to provide information to the disabled about their rights. Like us, those who are illiterate are entitled to vote. The Government of Canada must give them an opportunity to do so.
The purpose of my bill, of course, is to counter malicious intents and acts to reduce a candidate's margin or eliminate him altogether, but I think we should take it a step further and let everyone benefit.
