PROC Committee Report

Supplementary Opinion of the BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS[1]

The Bloc Québécois would first like to thank all the individuals and groups who participated in the Committee’s study by submitting a brief or making a virtual presentation, particularly Stéphane Perrault, Chief Electoral Officer, as well as the various chief electoral officers from Canadian provinces and abroad.

As we are currently in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and are seeing the arrival of new variants, we feel it is important to express our concerns about the possibility of a federal election being called. The Bloc Québécois has the interests of Quebeckers at heart and is concerned about the possible impact on the public of holding a federal election in the coming months.

Clearly, if an election were to be held, it would have to be conducted safely, following the public health rules and guidelines in place in Quebec and the provinces, and in a way that protects the health of electors and their fundamental right to vote.

The example of the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial election, the results of which will not be known until 12 March 2021, was unable to be studied by the Committee. However, due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, election day had to be cancelled and voting will now be by mail. The concern about having voter turnout of only 51% is very real, given that in the last election it was 61%.[2] In a federal election, such a scenario could significantly affect voter turnout. In addition, mail-in voting across Canada could pose serious logistical challenges and potentially interfere with the exercise of the right to vote.

Accordingly, we believe it is necessary to restate all the measures that we have proposed throughout the study, both those that were accepted by the Committee in the interim report and in this report, and those outlined in our supplementary opinion on the interim report. The Bloc Québécois therefore proposed that the following measures be put in place as part of the temporary legislative amendments:

1) Replace the polling day fixed on a Monday by a two-day polling period, corresponding to a Saturday and a Sunday, and increase the voting hours by reducing them from a 12-hour day to 16 hours spread over two days;

In our view, it is important to replace Monday as the polling day with two 8-hour days, a consecutive Saturday and Sunday, in order to spread out the number of electors coming to polling stations. We believe that this temporary change to the Act offers a number of advantages:

(a) it makes available a greater number of facilities large enough to observe physical distancing between electors and between electors and poll workers, such as schools and any facilities and community centres not usually available on weekdays; and

(b) it makes it possible to recruit enough election workers available to work at polling stations, thereby preventing the risk of a shortage of workers given that individuals over 60 are likely to be unavailable to volunteer for work during the pandemic, and that younger and less at-risk individuals in the workforce are more likely to be available on weekends.

That said, we believe that the Committee’s recommendation in the interim report to hold the election over a three-day period is somewhat excessive. Adding Monday as the third voting day seems inappropriate since, according to a survey of voters by Elections Canada, between 4 and 5 million voters could opt for mail-in voting rather than in-person voting if a federal election were to take place during the pandemic.[3] Electors can also vote on advanced polling days, normally taking place over four consecutive days, which would provide the option to vote during the week. This is in addition to giving electors the option to vote at any time during the election by visiting their respective returning office, depending on their schedule.

In addition, we believe it is important to add that, given the additional voting day, there will need to be an amendment to the Canada Elections Act prohibiting the release of new polls or election advertising during the entire voting period. On this point, Jean-Marc Léger of the Leger polling firm said that normally when there is one-day voting period on Monday, “40% of voters make up their minds over the weekend. During the last election, 8% said they did so in the voting booth, that is, when they voted,”[4] which demonstrates the need for such a legislative amendment.

2) Authorize the Chief Electoral Officer to determine when and how the voting will take place in long-term care facilities;

In the interim report, the Bloc Québécois recommended tightening the parameters for voting in long-term care facilities by considering local circumstances and the rules in place in Quebec and in the provinces. We also believe it goes without saying that such measures can also be applied in private seniors’ residences. Enabling long-term care residents to exercise their right to vote without risking their health or being the victim of irregularities is a priority for the Bloc Québécois. That is why we strongly recommend that Elections Canada-trained staff be on site to collect the ballots and ensure that voting guidelines and health measures are followed to ensure the safety of electors. The Bloc Québécois is therefore pleased that the Committee has accepted this recommendation.

3) Modify the power of the Chief Electoral Officer so he can adapt the Act when an emergency situation arises in order to give him greater leeway in facing the pandemic.

With respect to measure 3), the Bloc Québécois is pleased that the Committee accepted its recommendation in the final report that the government make amendments to the Canada Elections Act so that the Chief Electoral Officer can make the necessary changes should an election be held during the pandemic, including amendments to provisions relating to the Register of Electors and the nomination process, in order to ensure the safe conduct of the election campaign and to protect the health of electors, election workers and candidates. We are also pleased that the Committee accepted our recommendation to allow signatures in support of a nomination paper be collected by candidates electronically so as to avoid knocking on doors or soliciting signatures in public spaces, in order to minimize the risk of spreading the virus and to protect the safety of both electors and candidates.

The Bloc Québécois is also pleased that the Committee decided to dismiss the proposal made by those who called for mail-in ballots to continue to be counted up to 24 hours after the polls close. In our opinion, such an extension of the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots would delay the election results, which would fuel voter suspicion and undermine confidence in the electoral system, which is obviously undesirable.

However, the Bloc Québécois wishes to make clear its strong disagreement with the Committee’s proposal to recommend that Elections Canada examine solutions to allow the option to vote by telephone. In our opinion, telephone voting poses considerable challenges for properly verifying the identity of electors who vote this way. It also opens the door to fraud, something important to consider especially in light of the theft of data and personal information over the Internet in recent years, and more recently in connection with the various emergency assistance programs rolled out by the Liberal government during the pandemic.

In conclusion, the Bloc Québécois reiterates its disappointment with the Liberal government’s decision to move forward with Bill C-19 without considering the interim or final reports prepared for this study. We believe that by doing so, the government has disregarded an entire toolbox before proposing legislative amendments that may prove to be inadequate or inappropriate, such as the one allowing the voting period to be extended by up to 16 days in long-term care facilities, which could increase opportunities for contact between residents and election workers at a time when physical distancing rules are necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In closing, the Bloc Québécois would like to raise a strong concern about the potential impact of Bill C-19 as tabled by the government in December. Bill C-19 does not include any legislative amendment to prohibit the release of new polls or election advertising during the entire voting period, while the bill increases this period to three consecutive days from Saturday to Monday. The Bloc Québécois intends to raise all of the important points in this supplementary report during the upcoming parliamentary proceedings on the government’s Bill C-19.