Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, 87% of Canadians believe that when they vote, it is reasonable to expect them to bring some ID. Obviously, when people from outside the country vote, they do not present that ID in person. That is why the bill before the House would allow them to do so, by scanning the documents, emailing them in, and requesting that the ballot be sent to them by mail, which they can send back.

Reform Act, 2014  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member on getting this far with a bill this ambitious. It has been a great pleasure working with him as the minister responsible for the subject material. The product he has put together, in combination with the committee, which also deserves congratulations, is commendable.

Citizen Voting Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for showing me such mercy, given the state of my health today. On the first question of the timelines, I did think about this quite a lot, because the member is right that ballots would have to travel to the voter and then be returned. One thing I would correct is to say that the application would not have to travel by mail.

Citizen Voting Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her question, although I do think she is over-complicating the bill. It is actually quite simple. Basically, if someone is residing abroad and wants to vote, they merely have to submit their ID proving who they are and where they last lived in Canada.

Citizen Voting Act  Mr. Speaker, on the first question about the list of eligible ID that voters abroad could use to prove who they are and where they last lived in Canada, the bill's intent is to see that the list of eligible ID produced by the CEO of Elections Canada would apply to voters abroad just as it does to those here at home.

Citizen Voting Act  moved that Bill C-50, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the occasion to address the House today on the citizen voting act. The citizen voting act has three principal objectives. The first is to help prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

Citizen Voting Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-50, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, the member will note that the Liberal member who just stood up said that tax cuts cost the middle class money. In reality, tax cuts save the middle class money. The reality is that when families have to pay less tax, that does not cost them money. It saves them money.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member makes a very good point. Recently he identified what I believe is a flaw in the Canada Elections Act. The flaw he identified was that a leader must personally sign off on the candidacy of every single person who runs for his or her party. That ensures that under the law, parties do not have the choice to select who within their organization would be best suited to approve candidacies.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member acknowledges that there would have to be a list voted on by the citizen. However, that list has to be established somehow. Somebody has to put the list together. The party, the party apparatus, and party leaders would establish that list and give all of its priorities, so the vast majority of parliamentarians on that list would be the hand-picked selection of party leaders.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my earlier remarks, The Globe and Mail did a study on that exact question and concluded that among all of the parties in the House of Commons, the Conservative Party was by far the most likely to have free and independent votes. Out of 162,000 individual votes cast by MPs, we had far more MPs vote independently of leadership than the other parties, which is unusual, given that we are on the government side of the House of Commons.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I did address those arguments in my speech. First of all, I believe that the system we have of first past the post has given Canada good, stable, democratic government. It is government that Canadians are comfortable with. In fact, when proposals similar to the one that that NDP has put before us were offered in referendums in British Columbia, Ontario, and P.E.I., all of them were rejected by the voters.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the question was about consultation. The member correctly points out that this particular proposal has received some consultation in three provinces. It was rejected by referendum by the people of British Columbia, Ontario, and P.E.I. I note that the motion does not actually call for a referendum.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, in setting the context, I will take just a few moments to elaborate on an important piece of legislation on democratic reform that he and I both debated, the Fair Elections Act, which requires people to present ID when they vote, a new requirement in Canadian elections that has removed the largely inaccurate voter information card as a form of ID.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I give a special thanks to the member who raised this motion and has given us the opportunity to discuss our democracy and various ideas on how to improve it. In order to talk about this proposal, we need to discuss the broader context of the debate. I will start with the broad strokes of Canadian democracy, recognizing that everything great that has been achieved in this country has been done through gradual, incremental improvement, starting 800 years ago with the Magna Carta, whose anniversary we will celebrate next year.