Procedure and House Affairs committee  It would go a long way towards solving, in my view, the vouching issue as well. It would reduce the difficulties that have been introduced with the changes under Bill C-23. It's something that Canadians automatically did in the past, and I think they still do. They take the card with them because it has the address of where they go to vote on it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The provisional balloting for people abroad would be to take care of the average 1,000 electors who vote from abroad and whose votes are cast aside because they come in after six o'clock. That happens right now.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Right, and it would remove the need to go to court to have that proven and remove the grounds on which it could occur. I want to remind the committee that even though the results are officially proclaimed usually within a day or two, there are seven days under the statute. You can take up to seven days as a returning officer.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Those people took the trouble. They voted. Six o'clock is good. At 6.01, forget it; they fall. There are about 1,000 at every election. It varies like this, by the way, but I'm saying on average...and that's a lot.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's the provisional balloting. It can also occur at the polls under certain circumstances, but I can't remember what they are. However, they have introduced it for abroad. When they did it for people abroad, they said, “If we're going to do it for them, we're going to have to do it for the others.”

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's where the provisions of the bill would come into effect, meaning that you would have to find someone who could, to some extent, vouch for you. I admit it's quite a demanding requirement. We might do well to advise Canadians, before they go abroad, of the requirements they will have to meet in order to vote.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The introduction of that language in the bill allows me to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and that's to introduce the notion of provisional balloting, the inability for a deputy returning officer to refuse a ballot on the basis of what he or she considers to be unacceptable ID or proof of address and having that verified after the election.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Obviously, I share that view.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  With respect to the first question.... I'm sorry, I've mixed up the two. You had two questions in there.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's a problem because there will have to be verification of the documents that are provided to the people at Elections Canada, and there may be a problem with that. They may not be able to trace a document to which the elector has made a reference.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I proposed a minimum of 30 days. The committee may feel, and the Chief Electoral Officer may provide you with advice, that it should be 60. I thought 30 might be sufficient, but I'm not putting my hand in the fire on this. I'm saying you need to do it before the writ, especially if it's a fixed election date.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the first instance, I do wish that my recommendations will continue to be from someone who is alive.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  But it's because I've been thinking more about the judgment concerning Mr. Opitz. It's called the Opitz judgment. I hope that everyone appreciates that. That's what it is, by the Supreme Court. I am saying there are repercussions to that. If there are mistakes that happen during the process, the right to vote is not vitiated.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've always felt that they had a little bit more to produce than Canadians living here where their addresses are updated automatically from the drivers' files, from the income tax department, and from other electoral lists from other jurisdictions. I've often felt that it doesn't happen for those people abroad, so the fact that the regime would be enhanced by some of the measures in the bill, the objectives of the bill, I will agree with that.