Kate Davis, a spokeswoman for Tim Uppal, said in an email Tuesday that the government will not limit itself to the Elections Canada report.
“The minister is considering, and will continue to consider, a wide-range of recommendations in advance of the legislation’s introduction,” she said.
Davis declined to say what other source for recommendations the government is considering. No separate public consultation process has been announced for the long-overdue legislation.
It’s hard to know what recommendations the government is considering, said Craig Scott, the NDP critic for democratic reform, aside from Scott’s private member’s bill on the subject.
“All I can think of that is they have some kind of behind-the-scenes closed-door policy process that’s been generating options, but if so nobody else has heard about it,” he said.
Marc Mayrand, the chief electoral officer, will table his report this week. He promised it last March, when public concerns about reports of deceptive calls in the 2011 federal election were putting pressure on the agency.
On March 29, Mayrand told a Commons committee that he would report “about administrative as well as legislative issues around privacy and communications with electors in the context of evolving technologies.”
To prepare for the report, Mayrand issued a discussion paper in November, then met with party representatives to discuss it.
The paper proposed:
• making it an offence to falsely represent oneself as a representative of Elections Canada, a candidate or political party;
• an extension of the do-not-call list to cover political calls, which are now mostly exempt;
• regulations to ensure parties respect voters’ privacy;
• a registry for firms hired to conduct voter contact by telephone;
• greater audit powers for Elections Canada, something the Conservatives had previously opposed;
• greater powers for Elections Canada investigators to demand telephone records without a court order, and the ability to compel testimony from witnesses.
Mayrand also commissioned a round-table report from the Institute for Research on Public Policy, which was released earlier this month.
A majority of the panelists supported enhanced enforcement powers, but also warned that Elections Canada should tread lightly, and urged greater prior disclosure and data-retention provisions, suggesting they would help prevent fraud. They also suggest that Mayrand compel parties to adopt voluntary codes of conduct.
Mayrand will also release a poll, conducted by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives.
The $45,000 poll contacted 1,000 voters to ask them about voter contact practices, the protection of personal information, and the level of trust they have for political institutions and technology.
Last March, during the height of the so-called robocalls scandal, the NDP moved a motion calling for the government to commit to legislation within six months that would give Elections Canada enhanced investigative powers. Conservative MPs voted in favour of the motion, which passed unanimously, but the government has yet to introduce any legislation and has since said only that it will introduce it “in due course.”
Scott said Tuesday that given the legislation is already six months overdue, there ought to be pressure on the government to table it soon after Mayrand reports.
“If it turns out they’re not ready to roll out their legislation very shortly after, then it suggests there’s something very seriously wrong in that department,” he said.
Yves Cote, the commissioner of Canada Elections, recently sent a report to the director of public prosecutions recommending that charges be laid as the result of an investigation into a deceptive election-day robocall in Guelph, Ont., which sent hundreds of opposition supporters to the wrong polling station.
The agency is investigating similar reports in ridings across Canada.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Stephen Maher
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