The "Unfair" Elections Act - Election 2015 - Part 1

In the spring of 2014, the Harper Conservative Government introduced Bill C-23, the so-called Fair Elections Act.  

What it does has been well-summarized here.  The Conservative Cabinet minister in charge of the Act is Pierre Poilievre, described here as "...a talking point in a tailored suit".  

There was no apparent reason for the legislation, despite assertions from various Conservative MPs, and the bill completely ignored the "robocalls" scandal, a real case of electoral fraud, for which one Conservative operative was convicted.  More on that in another post.

In fact, one Elections Canada expert, hired to investigate irregularities across Canada, found very few cases of voter fraud; any problems found were mostly attributed to "administrative errors".  The expert, Harry Neufeld, recommended that the government simplify the paperwork and use the voter ID cards sent out by Elections Canada more widely.

The government ignored that expert advice, a practice that seems to be common to this government, and has banned the use of voter registration cards as ID.

So, what's the real problem with this piece of legislation?

First, it's a poor attempt to fix a problem that doesn't exist.  

It does away with vouching, a practice where another elector can "vouch" for a person known to him or her, allowing that person to vote when they might not have ID that proves their place of residence.  In the 2011 election, about 400,000 people made use of this system.  Under the new rules, they might not be able to vote.  This is explained here.

The Act will restrict what the Chief Electoral Officer can do to encourage people to vote.  Why is a complete mystery, unless the government doesn't want people to vote.  There really can be no other reason.

The Commissioner of Canada Elections will have fewer powers to compel testimony when investigating cases of electoral fraud.

Originally, the Act would have permitted the governing party the right to appoint poll supervisors, something that has always been done by Elections Canada.  Opposition to this section persuaded the government to withdraw it.

Donation limits will be going up.  More money in politics.  It's questionable if this is a good idea.

Opposition to this bill has been widespread.  The Globe & Mail took an unprecedented step by writing a 5-part series on this bill and why it should be killed altogether.  The government has not listened and instead rushed the bill through Parliament.

Despite the assertions of Poilievre and some of his cronies, all this bill proposes to do is make voting more difficult for some people.  It does nothing to enhance fraud investigations.  Consequently, all one can say is that this bill attacks democracy in Canada.

As an article in the New York Times puts it: 

In advance of this election ... the Canadian Conservatives have passed the Fair Elections Act, a law with a classically Orwellian title, which not only needlessly tightens the requirements for voting but also has restricted the chief executive of Elections Canada from promoting the act of voting. Mr. Harper seems to think that his job is to prevent democracy.