Trudeau government proposes major changes to elections law
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The Trudeau government is proposing to limit the length of federal election campaigns, restrict the amount of spending allowed in the period immediately preceding a campaign and introduce new rules to regulate third-party spending as part of a set of major reforms to Canada’s elections laws.
Political parties also would face new privacy requirements regulating how they collect and use information from Canadians.
The proposed changes are included in legislation tabled Monday afternoon by Scott Brison, the acting minister of democratic institutions.
Under changes proposed in Bill C-76, the official campaign period could be no longer than 50 days. During the pre-writ period, political parties would be able to spend only $1.5 million on partisan advertising.
Third party organizations would be able to spend $500,000 each during the official campaign period, but would face new spending and reporting requirements. Foreign entities would be prohibited from spending any money.
Reversing changes made by the previous Conservative government in 2014, the Liberals would make the voter identification card a valid piece of identification for use at polling stations and empower the chief electoral officer to conduct public education campaigns.
The Liberals also would repeal statutes that make Canadian citizens ineligible to vote if they reside outside the country for five consecutive years.
Those changes, among others, were included in legislation first tabled by the Liberals in 2016. That bill was not brought forward for debate and is now folded into the new bill.
Stephane Perreault, the acting chief electoral officer, warned MPs last week that the government would need to move quickly if it wants its changes to be in place for the next federal election in 2019.
“Of course, our mandate is to implement the changes Parliament decides to enact and we will find ways to do that, if and when legislation is introduced and passed,” Perreault said at a meeting of the procedure and House affairs committee. “However, it is also my responsibility to inform you that time is quickly running out.”
Commenting before the new Liberal bill was tabled, Nathan Cullen, the NDP’s critic for democratic reform, said his party fears the government hasn’t moved fast enough to bring forward changes in time for the next election.
“The concern for us is that the 2019 election will be a difficult election to run,” he said. “With the new threats we see, from the Facebook scandal to the Russians’ interference in the American elections … we need all of the tools that we can possibly have at hand to make sure the next election is run fairly, so that Canadians can vote properly and have confidence in our electoral system.
“Because of Liberal inaction … we’ve seen very little to nothing that will give Canadians that confidence and give Elections Canada the tools that they need.”
Cullen also expressed concern over the fact that the government has not yet appointed a new chief electoral officer. Marc Mayrand, the previous officer, departed in December 2016.
Article source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/syria-announces-yarmouk-camp-evacuation-agreement-180430162239804.html
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