Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the commissioner already has the same investigative powers as a police officer. Furthermore, the fair elections act will increase the commissioner's powers by making him independent and allowing him to impose harsher penalties for offences committed, while Canadians

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member perhaps accidentally stated a falsehood. He said that the commissioner will “no longer have it”. He does not have it now. In fact, police officers do not have that power. The power to compel does not exist for police forces across the country. The com

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of Canada Elections already has the same investigative powers as a police force. He can use those powers right now. In fact, those powers are increased by the fair elections act, which gives him sharper teeth and a longer reach, including making it a

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I will simply read Elections Canada's own report, which says of irregularities related to vouching and procedures like it that, “The courts refer to such serious errors as ‘irregularities’ which can result in votes being declared invalid”. There were 50,000 such irr

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of Canada Elections already has all of the investigative powers of a police force, which could investigate violent crime, for example. We will ensure that he keeps all of those powers. In fact, the fair elections act gives him sharper teeth and a l

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, if there is an exclusion that he wants to revisit, like when the NDP excluded all fundraising expenses from its spending limits, for example, first he should contact his party, which makes its own rules for leadership races. Second, I invite him to bring forward any

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, we will be adding mandatory auditing of every cent of election expense money that parties are hoping to have reimbursed. That auditing process is new. In addition, according to section 435, the Chief Electoral Officer can choose to ask for more information before re

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, there are none, and our Chief Electoral Officer will not be muzzled either. He will still be able to talk about democracy in Canada. However, she refers to a motion in the House of Commons in which we voted for Elections Canada's powers, and it said we would support

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, people do not need a driver's licence to vote in Canada. In fact, they do not even need photo identification. There are 39 forms of identification allowed. These include old age security cards, hospital and medical clinic cards, hospital bracelets worn by residents

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, point number one, the NDP excluded all fundraising expenses from its own leadership race, a position against which it is arguing right now. Second, the Chief Electoral Officer is wrong on this point, as well as on other points. The bill we are bringing forward, the

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, this gives me occasion to correct the explicit factual error in the CEO's testimony when he said that the errors linked to vouching were strictly record-keeping that would not compromise an election. This is what page 10 of his own report said: ...the Supreme Cour

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, yes.

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, first, young voters who are students can use their student card, for example. Second, the voters list is used to generate the voter cards, and there are errors for one in six names on that list. Elections Canada maintains that list, not the government. Those are the

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats are the ones living in a bubble. They are the ones who believe that a person should be able to vote without any form of identification. Canadians believe that, with 39 options for identification, it is reasonable to expect a person to present a doc

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the measure to which the member refers is a standard measure that applies to numerous officers of Parliament already. It allows, at the same time, total independence for the way in which the Commissioner of Canada Elections carries out investigations. In fact, the fa