Justice committee  Sure.

Justice committee  Thank you.

Justice committee  All right, thank you.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Cara Zwibel, and I'm a lawyer and program director with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The CCLA is a national, non-profit, non-partisan, and non-governmental organization supported by thousands of Canadians from all walks of life. This year CCLA celebrates 50 years of working to protect and promote the rights and freedoms of individuals across Canada.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The Canadian Civil Liberties Association doesn't have experience with that population.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know. I'm aware that there are some provinces that don't allow vouching, but I'd have to look at what they do allow. Until recently you didn't have to show identification at all in order to vote federally, so it's only useful to say that there are other systems where they don't allow vouching if we look at what else is allowed.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  When we look at the ways that we're using to ensure the integrity of our voting system, we have to see if the integrity is really at risk in the first place. I haven't seen any evidence that it is.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that number comes from the Chief Electoral Officer attesting to how many times the vouching procedure was used in the last election.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. I think the vouching issue is what presents the clearest problem from a constitutional perspective.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know if I can answer that question. I don't know that I'm knowledgeable enough about the different provincial acts to know what they've dealt with. I've been watching these committee hearings, and I know there have been some witnesses who have suggested other possibilities.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I suppose my assumption is, if you had a piece of identification, you would prefer to use that than to rely on someone else to vouch....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm concerned because the bill tries to draw a distinction that expenses incurred for fundraising purposes are not counted as election expenses. My understanding is that means they're not generally going to be clearly reportable. I think that for a bill that's been touted as being about getting money out of politics—for a government that's talked a lot about the need for transparency and accountability—something that tries to draw this distinction and that removes these expenses from what will be visible in the course of reviewing expenses and election returns is problematic.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Chair, I'm happy to start. I would say that the fundamental premise underlying this is that we assume that any restrictions that are placed on the right or the opportunity to vote should have a reason behind it. There should be evidence to demonstrate that this is necessary. To the best of my knowledge at least, the provisions in Bill C-23 aren't correcting a problem.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to speak to you today on behalf of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The CCLA is a national non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization that promotes respect for and observance of fundamental human rights and civil liberties.