Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. That's a question you would have to ask the government, obviously. I believe such a provision is needed. Political parties receive substantial reimbursements, in the order of $33 million. People are held accountable for far lesser amounts. We live in an age of accountability and transparency.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I agree with you. My point was that today, if an election was called tomorrow based on the information that she had right now, she does not have any of the documents that prove her residency and—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  —and I think it's a lot to ask. I don't know. Why my daughter would go and get that document is because her mother would be after her to go and get it. I think there are a lot of young people who just...it would be too complicated. There are a lot of people—now we're in a certain category of Canadians—who just would have great difficulty doing that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The Auditor General has the powers of a commissioner, under the Inquiries Act, which in fact means that the Auditor General can compel testimony. He doesn't have to go to a court to order it. The Auditor General can order it himself. I don't know that it has ever actually been used, but it is a provision.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not sure about that. I have a feeling that often reporting publicly that someone did not talk to us was perhaps more damaging than actually talking to us.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the administrative policies of government, if we go back, previously the officers of Parliament were included with all the other departments and agencies. The administrative policies all applied to us with no recognition of the independence that was needed for officers of Parliament in the management of their offices.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Chair, I can really base this only on my experience. When I was Auditor General, we had amendments to the Auditor General Act three or four times. Certainly, each time we were consulted. Our views were sought. We were asked if there were any unintended consequences that could result from that and whether this amendment would really achieve what we were all wanting it to do.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know all the specifics of the act. I've certainly not seen anything in the Elections Act that would allow the Chief Electoral Officer to stop an investigation. I can only rely on the testimony of the commissioner who indicated very clearly that he had the necessary operational independence.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Anybody who spends time with Sheila Fraser is having a good life. Come on. I very much appreciate your being here because, in my view, you're probably the most trusted Canadian in the country. I think a lot of people rely on you to give them the straight goods.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I said in my opening remarks, the officers of Parliament really do play a very important role in our democracy. We don't take these jobs to win popularity contests. We do our work with objectivity. I know that there are certain audits that created—I don't quite know how to phrase it, but I'm sure I was not on the Christmas card list of certain people after certain audits.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the major difficulty that has been raised with respect to putting the commissioner under the Director of Public Prosecutions is on the exchange of information. It is very important that the commissioner work with Elections Canada in order to get all of the information that they need in order to conduct investigations.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is my understanding, yes, that there could be difficulties for the commissioner in obtaining that information from Elections Canada. There are a whole series of legislative requirements within the government about exchanging information between departments. That is certainly something, if the committee continues with this move, that they look at.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here and would like to thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee with regards to its study of Bill C-23. I would like to emphasize that my comments are mine alone. I do not represent the Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada nor the advisory committee to that organization, which I co-chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The first one, just to advise you, Chair, is I have raised with the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader our request that we move Sheila Fraser from the evening to the day, for obvious reasons. The daytime has been recognized as the prime time, when everybody is here. We make no bones about it. There have already been discussions that had people and groups moved as a result of that recognition.

Democratic Reform  The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that the overarching purpose of the elections act is to safeguard people's constitutional right to vote. However, according to a person who has a name, Sheila Fraser, “this bill would appear to be making it more difficult” for some people to vote. Will the minister now withdraw the bill and reintroduce one that actually protects people's right to vote, and also, by the way, that goes after real electoral fraud?