jdobbin Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/071023/...disenfranchised Recent changes to the federal Elections Act will wind up disenfranchising more than 1 million rural voters, Canada's elections watchdog warns.Just four months ago in a bid to clamp down on voter fraud, Parliament amended the Canada Elections Act to require that each voter produce proof of identity and residential address before being allowed to cast a ballot. But Elections Canada now says more than one million rural Canadians do not have a proper residential or civic address - complete with street name and number - as envisaged by the legislation. Rural addresses are more often post office boxes. On native reserves, a resident's address is sometimes simply the name of the reserve. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus is one of those who stands to be disenfranchised. His driver's licence lists his address as Mileage 104, a reference to the original distance markers on the railway line through northern Ontario indicating that he's 104 miles from Timmins. In a report to political parties, Elections Canada says 4.4 per cent of eligible Canadian voters do not have the legally required residential address. The problem is most acute in the northern territories, where over 80 per cent of Nunavut voters don't have a residential address. Surely this isn't the type of thing that the House expected when they changed the rules. Sounds like the majority to be affected by this might be Tories in rural Saskatchewan since they hold most of the seats there. They can't be too happy about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 (edited) Imagine if we go into an election in the next days. There can be no rule change once that happens and even NDP MP Charlie Angus would not be allowed to cast a vote for himself since he doesn't have the required address. Edited October 24, 2007 by jdobbin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scribblet Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Elections Canada can change them, the head honcho has specials power, but rarely if ever use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Elections Canada can change them, the head honcho has specials power, but rarely if ever use them. Harper said that Elections Canada should follow the will of Parliament. I don't see how the Commissioner could finesse this. The change of rules has to come from legislation. They said on the CBC yesterday that there is very little wiggle room for the agency on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old_bold&cold Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 I would not let any of this even bother me for a minute. We all know that there will not be an election for quite some time to come and so there will be lots of time to correct any problems with voter registration. I guess the Libs will just have to wait till there leader grows a back bone, but actually for now and some time to come even the bloc and NDP will also support the government measures as they are coming forward. Even a mini budget, that has been hinted at. This may well have another yera or two before the government is brought to an election. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fain Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/071023/...disenfranchisedSurely this isn't the type of thing that the House expected when they changed the rules. Sounds like the majority to be affected by this might be Tories in rural Saskatchewan since they hold most of the seats there. They can't be too happy about that. This sounds ridiculously to fix up. Made more so by the glaring error by Elections Canada Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fellowtraveller Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 Harper said that Elections Canada should follow the will of Parliament. I don't see how the Commissioner could finesse this. The change of rules has to come from legislation. They said on the CBC yesterday that there is very little wiggle room for the agency on this. So, are you claiming that Parliament wanted to disenfranchise voters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 (edited) So, are you claiming that Parliament wanted to disenfranchise voters? Don't think I ever made such a claim. I just pointed out that if an election were held today, the law as it stands disenfranchises many voters. And so far, I haven't heard of any rush to change the law before an election is held. Edited October 29, 2007 by jdobbin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 This sounds ridiculously to fix up. Made more so by the glaring error by Elections Canada This wasn't an Elections Canada error. This is an error in the legislation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusThermopyle Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 This wasn't an Elections Canada error. This is an error in the legislation. Thats true, as such I believe it's a non issue. This will be corrected before any election takes place. If not then the entire election would be deemed invalid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdobbin Posted October 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 Thats true, as such I believe it's a non issue. This will be corrected before any election takes place. If not then the entire election would be deemed invalid. If the government fails before then, how will it be fixed? There has still been no amendments introduced to make the changes as of yet. As far as invalidating an election, how so? You mean in a legal sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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