PROC Committee Report

Supplementary opinion of the New Democratic Party of Canada

It is clear that an election during the pandemic risks disenfranchising many Canadians. The best way to avoid the complications of the pandemic for a federal election is not to have an election during the pandemic.

This requires that parliamentarians work hard to find acceptable and appropriate compromises. It requires a government that recognizes it does not have a majority, that it must compromise to make progress and that opposition members have an important and legitimate job to do in holding the government to account. It requires opposition parties to not only criticize, but provide constructive proposals for moving forward, and to avoid some of the more extreme forms of hyperbole that often come with politics.

While New Democrats are committed to doing our part to make this parliament work, we recognize that many of the variables in that equation are beyond our control. We must be prepared for the possibility of an election during the pandemic.

That is why New Democrats reached out to the other parties in June 2020 to propose a study of these issues. While we are pleased it did eventually get underway, we would have preferred to see it begin sooner.

New Democrats support the recommendations of the interim report and would add the following recommendations, so that they may be considered by the government sooner than later as we try to develop a framework for a safe and healthy election, should one be called during the pandemic, that protects the right and ability of every Canadian to vote:

1.   In the event of a pandemic election, the maximum writ period allowable under legislation should be adopted, so as to provide Elections Canada as much time as possible to prepare the proper administration of the election.
2.   Elections Canada should make vote-by-mail as accessible as possible, including by adopting an application process that includes, but is not limited, an on-line component.
3.   An on-line-only application procedure would put voting by mail out of reach for too many Canadians, many of whom already face barriers to participation in elections. Registration for voting by mail should be available in-person and by phone, in addition to on-line. Elections Canada should consider partnering with Canada Post to make in-person registration at postal outlets possible.
4.   In recognition of the fact that many people continue to live and work on campus, Elections Canada should maintain polling locations on university and college campuses.
5.   Elections Canada should, without delay, consult with Canada’s disability stakeholder organizations in order to create a list of accommodations it can deliver to people living with disabilities to help them overcome long-standing barriers to their exercise of the vote, as well as new challenges that would arise in the case of a federal election held during a pandemic.
6.   Elections Canada should, without delay, establish a team to reach out proactively to Canada’s Indigenous communities to engage with them about the challenges they may face during a pandemic election, how to establish a polling station in their community if they wish to, including the question of providing training to people in the community who want to work as election staff, and how to facilitate mail-in voting.
7.   The Advisory Committee of Political Parties, established under section 21.1 of the Canada Elections Act, ought to begin meeting immediately for the purpose of establishing guidelines for campaigning that are consistent with the best public health advice and, to the greatest extent possible, mutually acceptable to as many of Canada’s registered political parties as possible.