Feds defend changes to Elections Act on ‘Maclean’s on the Hill’ podcast
Posted April 5, 2014 1:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The government continues to deflect criticism over its proposed changes to the Canada Elections Act.
Bill C-23, also known as the Fair Elections Act, has been widely criticized by electoral experts, including current and former chief electoral officers, academics and watchdogs for threatening to disenfranchise up to 100,000 Canadians, among other issues.
A provision of the bill would end the “vouching” option that allows some people to vote in federal elections without all the proper identification. Vouching is often used by First Nations Canadians who live on reserves and don’t have standard address information, students who move around and don’t keep all their government records up-to-date and seniors who move into long-term care facilities.
But Minister of State for Democratic Reform Pierre Poilievre told Rogers’ parliamentary bureau chief Cormac MacSweeney the average Canadian likes the proposed bill.
“Our position is people should bring their ID when they vote, and our position on that will not change,” Poilievre told MacSweeney on this week’s episode of the Maclean’s on the Hill podcast.
“The average Canadian just thinks that’s reasonable. It’s a classic example of the disconnect between the elites and the every day common people.”
Click here to hear the entire episode of Maclean’s on the Hill.
