Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, unlike the opposite, we are not afraid of Elections Canada. In fact, that is why in this bill we have given the commissioner of Elections Canada the power to compel testimony, something that may have come in handy when dealing with robocall

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as a woman in politics, I take umbrage with the fact that he is saying I am not speaking on behalf of myself and on behalf of the government. That is unbelievable. Furthermore, it is not this side of the side that had robocalls. It is not this side of the House tha

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I am incredibly proud of Bill C-76, and I am delighted that it is going to the procedure and House affairs committee so it can get the study and the interrogation it deserves. I am looking forward to members opposite asking questions of witnesses to ensure that we

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my NDP colleagues to move this bill forward and reverse the changes that were made by the former Conservative government. We can ensure that every Canadian who has the right to vote can do so. We want to ensure that young Canadians are

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to respond to my colleague from the Conservatives, because we are making it easier for Canadians to vote. We are clamping down on those who maliciously thwart and interfere in our electoral process. Let us contrast that with the former Cons

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite wants to talk about things broken, let us talk about broken rules. With Bill C-76, our government makes it easier for Canadians to vote and toughens the sanctions for those who break the rules. The defeated Harper Conservatives, on the other ha

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, leave it to the party opposite to view expanding the franchise and enabling more Canadians to vote as a bad thing. On this side of the House, we firmly believe that a Canadian has a right to vote, has a constitutional right to vote, and we are going to do what we

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, that is why I think we need to get this bill to committee as soon as possible. It is to ensure that those questions are asked of witnesses, that those questions are asked of myself, of officials, of Elections Canada, so that we can have the proper scrutiny, so that

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, there is so much in this legislation that we are proposing that I know New Democrats and the Liberals share. We want to get this done. Therefore, let us work together. Let us not play partisan games. Let us get this to committee to make sure that we do this for Can

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, I could not agree more. We need absolutely to get this bill to committee. It is telling that in 2014 over 400 academics signed an open letter to the previous Conservative government begging it not to move forward with the Fair Elections Act. We need to make the

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, I think it is incredibly important, when we are looking at this legislation, to look at the importance of the return of vouching and the return of the voter identification card. In fact, yesterday the acting Chief Electoral Officer, Stéphane Perrault, said at commi

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, as has been repeated, and as I have said, the procedure and House affairs committee has spent over 30 hours looking at the recommendations from the CEO of Elections Canada. This has been great conversation, great debate, and great dialogue, and it has factored int

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, let us see what is in the bill. We are strengthening the powers of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. That is very important because it allows us to safeguard the integrity of elections in Canada. There are situations that call for more powers, and that is cove

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, I think the member is confused because she is recalling Bill C-23 from the previous government. That is what happened when the Conservatives tried to rig the election in their favour. This bill is precisely trying to fix those abhorrent changes that were put forwar

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, Canadians have seen pages and pages of why we need to change the so-called Fair Elections Act the previous government brought in. In fact, there were five sections dedicated in The Globe and Mail to begging the previous government not to bring forth that legislatio