Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the fair elections act would keep everyday Canadians in charge of democracy by keeping interest groups on the sidelines and rule breakers out of business. It would close loopholes to big money, like the loans loophole the Liberals used to accept hundreds of thousands

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the decision on what to reveal is made by non-partisan public servants, for whom it has long been a tradition not to reveal cabinet confidences. That has been the case going back to all previous governments of all party stripes. The NDP should start coming clean abo

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I just answered that question. However, the New Democrats do not want to answer questions about their use of taxpayers' money. Their office, paid for by taxpayers, was used to train NDP volunteers and for fundraising activities. It is used as a mailing address for r

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, let me cite an expert right here who commented recently, after it was revealed that there were 50,000 serious irregularities relating to vouching. This expert said: It goes to a fundamental question of the defence of our democratic institutions.... If we can't even

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his invitation. It is very kind, and I very much appreciate his gesture. I invite all Canadians and the NDP to call witnesses to appear before the committee, so that we can examine the fair elections act. The bill will protect the interes

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member made some interesting comments about the subject of voter identification when people arrive to cast their ballots. He said that people had arrived without the proper ID and were turned away in his constituency. They probably would have benefited from knowi

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the input that the member provided before the bill was introduced. She is one of the most informed people in the country about matters of electoral mechanics, having been a leader in two or three successive elections. Yet, one of her public press rele

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member is correct in saying that in 45,000 cases the voter or the voucher was not recorded into the system. No one has ever suggested that is 45,000 instances of fraud, but it is 45,000 violations of the rules that are supposed to protect the system against fraud

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, yes, and the fact that Mr. Neufeld is a supporter of vouching should give us all the more concern because these numbers come from a supporter of vouching. These are not numbers we pulled out of a source that was trying to overturn the system. This is someone who went

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the voter information cards in the last election had a one in six error rate. One out of every six voter information cards sent out contained an error. The problem with errors in those cards is that they allow people to vote in places where they do not live, or poten

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the opposition has reacted with predictable hyperbole to the fair elections bill, yet the bill is full of the common-sense measures that are required for the improvement of our democratic system. To start with, let us deal with the issue of vouching. The opposition

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I just listed a whole host of different forms of identification that are specifically available to seniors. In addition to the ones I have already listed, there is also one of the following, issued by the responsible authority of a shelter, a soup kitchen, a student

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I have not stopped quoting Mr. Neufeld. In fact, right here, on page 64, it says that there were 50,000 irregularities related to vouching in the last election alone. Now, the NDP members are losing this debate, so they are playing partisan procedural tricks in comm

Democratic Reform  Yes, unfortunately, I did hear his comments. I will cite it. He said the Supreme Court found that these irregularities could not even compromise an election. In fact, the Supreme Court said precisely the opposite of what Mr. Mayrand reported. I will quote right out of Mr. Neuf

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the Chief Electoral Officer will be able to continue speaking to the media after the fair elections act is passed. That is not an issue. But the NDP wants to ignore the hard facts around the irregularities related to vouching. The reality is, regardless of what push