Justice  Despite these setbacks, the Conservatives stubbornly continue to introduce flawed bills. Many aspects of the unfair elections act are unconstitutional. The same goes for their immigration reform, which will certainly end up before the courts. When will the Conservatives start drafting bills that comply with the Constitution?

Reform Act, 2014  What I am trying to say is that when real problems arise, we solve them. The major exception, and we will continue to speak out against it, is the unfair elections act that was introduced last spring. It will cause serious problems in upcoming elections. While we are witnessing an alarming increase in democratic apathy and while strong and informed action should be taken to rouse voters and get them interested, a repressive elections act reminiscent of East Germany's received the enthusiastic approval of the Conservative government.

Electoral Reform  Mr. Speaker, in their unfair elections act, the Conservatives got rid of the Commissioner of Canada Elections with no reasonable explanation. Some asked a very valid question about the cost of this administrative fiasco deemed useless by all the committee witnesses, including the commissioner himself.

Copyright  Speaker, as we have now heard, the Conservatives have a plan to change copyright rules in order to create an advantage for themselves in the next election. I guess the unfair elections act was not enough. Talk about repeat offenders; it seems Conservatives are once again trying to tilt the playing field in their own favour. My question is for the Minister of State for Democratic Reform, not the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.

Copyright  Why does the government want to change the law to serve the Conservative Party's partisan interests, like it recently did with the unfair elections act?

Digital Privacy Act  I myself stood in the House to move unanimous consent to have Bill C-23, what New Democrats called the unfair elections act and the government called the fair elections act, referred to committee before second reading, exactly for the reasons I have just given. There were so many obvious problems in the bill.

Privilege  I think this demonstrates the need for major change. The Minister of State (Democratic Reform) introduced the unfair elections act. We called it that in the nicest way possible considering it was such a mess of a bill. There have been attempts to use that to make political hay, to try to change things, to stack the deck even more, but in the end, it is not just the laws but the culture that must change.

Business of Supply  However, to me, it seems that I am only scratching the surface every time I do this, because there is so much more to discuss. I am surprised, because when we had the Fair Elections Act, or unfair elections act, whatever members want to call it, when the minister brought that to the House and we passed it, I remember NDP members saying, unequivocally, that the one thing they did not like was the fact that it was overly prescriptive.

Citizen Voting Act  Some here might have had a chance to read the piece that came out today in the National Post, where I make it very clear that I do believe—this sounds like how I started the debate on Bill C-23, what we call “the unfair elections act”—that the effect, at minimum, of these changes in Bill C-50 would voter suppression of citizens living abroad, and something that I am not sure the minister is fully aware of, namely, that it could create chaos with voting in Canada, because of the changes to a section that would prohibit the Chief Electoral Officer from authorizing any use of ID that basically does not have its origin Canada.

Citizen Voting Act  Speaker, right now, citizens of France living overseas can vote electronically, and Americans living abroad can vote by email. Bill C-23, the unfair elections act, contains a provision that stipulates that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada must conduct a pilot project or test on electronic voting but that he must obtain the consent of the entire House of Commons and the Senate—not just one committee, but the entire Senate.

Citizen Voting Act  We have a bill, and it is important that Canadians understand that parliamentarians have been attempting to deal with this issue in a manner that reflects the values of Canadian society, which is that if an individual is a citizen in Canada, regardless of where they live, they have the right to vote. The government will say, as it did in earlier debates around its unfair elections act, that it is making things simpler and streamlining the system. In fact, we know that is not the case. One would think that when we are faced with the reality of plummeting voting rates in liberal democracies, including Canada, that we would, as parliamentarians, be thinking about ways in which we help facilitate and invite Canadian citizens to participate more fully in the electoral process.

Democratic Reform  Speaker, nearly a year ago, we asked the Minister of State for Democratic Reform if he had consulted the Chief Electoral Officer about his unfair elections act. He said he did, but he did not. Now we have another bill before us that is violating Canadians' right to vote. Did the minister actually consult Elections Canada this time?

Anti-terrorism Act, 2015  I was on people's doorsteps this weekend, and they are very concerned. We hope they will rise up and fight, like they did against the unfair elections act, to try to get the government to actually see why all of these former prime ministers and supreme court justices just might be onto something. The government will tell us not to worry, that lawful advocacy protest and dissent does not matter, that the act will not affect dissent.

Democratic Reform  There are sections of the unfair elections act that clearly infringe on charter rights. Did the minister honestly believe that his flawed bill would go ahead without serious and expensive court challenges?

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the inevitable has happened. The Conservatives' unfair elections act is being challenged in court. A majority of experts, citizen groups and even some Conservative politicians have strongly condemned this law, which would deprive some citizens of their right to vote.