Procedure and House Affairs committee  In terms of this card, I have just stated that outside of hypothetical examples, we did not hear from anyone who would have had trouble to produce the ID required, especially now that they can co-sign an oath to attest to their residence. Furthermore, all the hypothetical examples that were given wouldn't apply to the voter information card because it's mailed to their last known address. We heard an example of a homeless person who obviously wouldn't have any mail. Certainly voter information cards wouldn't apply in that case.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's the act's way of talking about the voter information card. Let's not talk about the technicalities; that's what it intends to do. Voter information cards, as everybody is well aware, are cards that are produced through the intersection of multiple databases that Elections Canada has access to, including driver's licences in every province, so they automatically include whatever level of accuracy exists in those databases—tax records, citizenship records, and the list goes on.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The voter information card, according to page 28 of this very same report, has an accuracy rate not of 90%—the preliminary list on which the voter information card is based—but of 93%. That's as to the person, so they got you right and didn't put somebody else down.

Privilege  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.

Business of Supply  I would also add a few words about the measures in the fair elections act regarding voter information cards, which play an important role in informing Canadians about where and when they need to vote. It is important to recognize that voter information cards are not currently authorized forms of identification and cannot be used as proof of identification and residency.

Fair Elections Act  I want to talk about something very specific that happened in committee and that I would like to hear his thoughts on. He spoke in detail about the use of the voter information card. He even quoted the Chief Electoral Officer, who explained why the voter information card was very accurate and was a very good document in general. The Conservatives did not want to agree to our amendments to reinstate the voter information card as an accepted piece of ID.

Business of Supply  The information from the register provides the information for voters lists that is reproduced on the voter information cards. In other words, one out of six voter information cards are wrong. That is why the fair elections act would prohibit the use of voter information cards as a form of acceptable identification.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Because I'm running short of time I'm going to turn my next comment to Mr. Thorsteinson. Regarding the issue of voter information cards, I don't know whether you're aware of this, but under the regulations associated with the current legislation, voter information cards cannot be used as identification. The Chief Electoral Officer was proposing expanding their use, and at the last election there were some experiments done, but outside of those experimental areas, it was not permissible to use the voter information card as a form of voter identification.

Fair Elections Act  The provision allowing someone to vote with a voter information card along with a piece of ID, which will be abolished, was used successfully during the last election and it received an incredible amount of positive feedback. The minister certainly loves to claim over and over that a person will be able to use 39 different pieces of ID to prove their identity.

Fair Elections Act  In addition to requiring ID, we would eliminate a form of identification that has proven unreliable and susceptible to abuse. In the last couple of elections, the agency has allowed voters to use their voter information card as a form of ID. This card is error-ridden. It has millions of mistakes. Some voters even get more than one of them, allowing for multiple voting to occur. In the last election, there were errors with 12%, or roughly 1 in 6, of these voter information cards.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Also, when I look at the voter information cards, your numbers suggest there is about a 10% error rate on those cards. I've actually heard numbers that are even greater than that in terms of the error rate, that it's maybe as high as one in six on those voter information cards.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do believe this will come home to roost when you see voting day, and when people show up en masse with their voter information cards, using them as ID and being told they can't. As I've said earlier, I considered proposing an amendment so that on the voter information card it has to contain the wording, “This piece of paper will not allow you to vote at the polls.

Business of Supply  The fair elections act would stop fraud of this kind by eliminating the use of inaccurate voter information cards as a replacement for acceptable forms of ID. The statistics on irregularities in the use of vouching and the high rates of inaccuracy in voter information cards are well established.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We have heard from many of our witnesses the fact that some students just don't have the required identification and that's a justification in the minds of many of our witnesses to continue vouching and use of voter information cards as proper ID when confirming addresses. I would point out to all of you, and in particular to members of this committee, that I've been a member of PROC for 10 years now, and I recall back in 2006 we had a very lengthy discussion about the use of vouching and voter information cards, and almost all—not all, but almost all—members of the committee, and particularly the Liberals, at that time were adamant in their belief that voter information cards should not be used.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What would your view be as to whether this system would work to resolve the problems that would exist if vouching and the voter information card were both removed as possible uses of identifying people's names and addresses?