It seems that Elections Canada might have given the reform party, the alliance party the conservative party of Canada, a little gift when it issued it's clarification on the Statutory Requirements Regarding the Identification of Electors Wearing Face Coverings. The clarification seems to me to be quite sensible and fits in with the new requirements specified in Bill C-31 (see legislative summary for reference) amendments to the Canada Elections Act.
Bill C-31 included amendments that require:
Before voting, electors must prove their identity and residential address by providing one piece of government-issued photo identification showing their name and residential address, or two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, each of which establishes their name and at least one of which establishes their residential address. To vote, an elector may instead take an oath and be vouched for by another elector whose name is on the list of electors for the same polling division, and who has the necessary piece(s) of identification to establish his or her identity and residential address.
The clarification states that:
There are several ways that electors can choose to prove their identity and residential address, some of which do not entail having to remove face coverings. There are, however, situations where an elector will be required to show her face before being able to vote.
If the elector presents an original government-issued photo identification that contains her name and residential address, the following options apply:
The elector may choose to unveil, OR
The elector can produce a second original piece of identification from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada’s authorized list of identification as proof of the individual’s identity, OR
Another elector registered in the same polling division who is able to produce satisfactory identification establishing his or her own identity and residential address could vouch for the elector. Both the voucher and vouchee would be required to make a sworn statement under oath. An elector can vouch only for one elector.
These options seem to fit well within the general options that Elections Canada has specified would now be required under the amended Elections Act for all voters:
To rant and rage about strange things is certainly my general impression of all things now conservative partyish and having a woman vote wearing a veil is certainly a strange thing for the culturally insecure.
But maybe I'm being a bit hard on the Harper Party of Canada as all party leaders have been reported as making statements on the Elections Canada clarification, though I have only seen so far the Liberal party statement which seems quite measured and seems in effect, to me to be what Elections Canada has attempted to do.
We've had the pleasure of seeing Harper's, the prime minister, response reported in the MSM. True to form, from my perspective, Harper's comments seem to have his usual traces of authoritarianism, and indignation. "Gads, how could an independent agency thwart my law the amendments to the Canada Election Act contained in Bill C-31. Heavens, outrage, outrage, outrage."
A tempest in a teapot, yes of course, let's wait to see how long the crazed political types and the insecure wingnuts in my country get to running around in circles with this issue.
Now if Parliament were not such complete idiots ... . That likely should just be, if the idiot that drafted the amendments in C-31 to the Elections Act, in other words, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, Peter Van Loan, wanted faces unimpeded, why wouldn't the amendments have dealt with the veil issue specifically in the planned changes?
Why didn't C-31 include an amendment that specified:
A voter will [shall/must] present an unobstructed clearly visible human face of any colour or shape as well as meeting other identity and resident requirements in order to vote.
What's up down there on Wellington Street, eh?
Hey maybe the Harper government didn't want to be to specific with the changes, hoping to actually finally, thank god, get an issue they feel comfortable with. One they can roll around and wallow in.
Too cynical, maybe.
Technorati Tags: Bloc, Canada, Canadian, Confused, Conservatives, Democracy, Green Party, Liberals, NDP, Ottawa