Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I have a very clear recollection of what I happened there. The approach the returning officer wanted to use was not in keeping with the spirit of the act and would have caused problems because there would have been too many people and the election workers would not have been able to control the crowd.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, it is not an offence to do that, because that is not under the Canada Elections Act. But it is part of the contract with Canada Post. I will say that Canada Post has been providing very good service to Elections Canada, and we do pay the prime rate for the service. However, if that occurs, I want to know, because they'll be able to trace it to the courier.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  He wouldn't automatically need a formal complaint to undertake a review of such a situation. He may launch investigations through his own initiative, depending upon circumstances surrounding a particular matter.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, I agree.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I feel that that was very clearly done in bad faith. However, when I have had to intervene, I have stated that things had to be done differently. You know that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Later I will give you a legal interpretation of that issue. However, one must not forget that the results are posted on Elections Canada's website as soon as they are available. Furthermore, we consistently update those results, which the candidates can use. I understand the implications of your question and later I will give you a more specific answer.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The reason there has not been prosecution is that there's no complaint that could be justified. There are a lot of perception issues and rumours, and people talk about this type of thing occurring.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll verify that and come back to the committee. It's my belief that it is not the case that there's been a successful prosecution. What we did on the side is agree with Mr. Proulx that we would be providing this committee with an answer about the question he had raised. What I find interesting in your comments is that you could have provided your ID three times, so why is going to be useful to provide the ID at the polls?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The statute says that you don't need to. If members of Parliament want to change the statute and require ID, then members of Parliament will have to change the law. But you can't look to me to mandate it, if it's not in the law.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not ready to indicate support today. I think it has to be discussed. There's the whole thrust of the legislation, which has existed since 1920 in this respect. Before we change that, I think people should be aware that the change would be a major one. There is also a whole slew of measures that do exist to ensure the integrity of the process.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  First, thank you for once again raising the issue of returning officers, an issue which has consistently been the subject of my recommendations since I have held my position. I spoke about this in 1990, the year I was appointed, before the royal commission that was considering this issue.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay. With respect to my comment on Edmonton Centre, what I attempted to say was that this happened to the largest extent in Edmonton Centre. I'm not going to say that this happened only in Edmonton Centre. A few other ridings come to mind, in which we had a problem with public buildings being listed as residential addresses.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Sir, what I don't understand is how you can go to fifteen different polls when you have the same address. Your poll is tied to your address.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would like that name, because under the statute there is a seven-year limitation for any infraction committed during the 2004 general election. So I definitely need that name. The issue that you're raising, which is one of ID at the polls, is one that perhaps we could be discussing at greater length, because doing so could take a long time this morning.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is thicker than that.