Growing up in Canada, I was taught that democracy was one of our most cherished rights. And why not? There are so many people around the world who only wish they could choose who governed them. The way it works (or at least what they tell us …) is that any citizen, no matter what gender or ethnic group or religion you identify with, can vote. However, if the current government gets its way, this could be changing. According to its critics, students might find themselves unable to vote at the next election.
Last month, the Conservative government in Ottawa introduced Bill C-23, the Fair Elections Act, which if passed by Parliament would make a number of significant changes to Canada’s Elections Act. Some of these include stiffer penalties for election fraud, closing loopholes on political spending, and forcing all campaigns who want to directly call voters to inform the CRTC before doing so. However, there are also many controversial changes, including increasing the limit for political donations in one year from $1000 to $1500 and preventing the Chief Electoral Officer from doing anything other than telling people how and where they can vote. And one Conservative MP was accused of outright lying in Parliament.
However, the biggest beef critics of the bill have is that voter identification requirements would be stricter. Bill C-23 would end the vouching system where you can vote without ID, as long as someone else, such as a friend or family member, who does have valid ID vouches for you. Also, voter information cards (VICs) – the cards you get in the mail telling you where to vote – no longer count as valid ID. So even if you bring a VIC to the poll mailed to “Mr. XYZ, 123 Front Street,” that would not count as proof that you live at 123 Front St.
The end of vouching will have an impact on students, seniors, and the poor in particular. The new rules require everyone who wants to vote to bring photo ID proving their name and their current address. It’s clear this might be problematic for students not from K-W who are at school on election day. Ditto for anyone who’s on co-op in a city other than their hometown at the time. That’s right: under the new rules, if you’re in Waterloo in Fall 2015, and your ID has your home address, you will need to bring a lease agreement, utility bill, or residence contract to the polling booth just to prove that you live here.
The government claims that the new voter ID rules are necessary to prevent fraud. The Minister for Democratic Reform, Pierre Poilievre, cited an Elections Canada study showing that one-quarter of vouched-for voters had “irregularities.” However, the head of Elections Canada, Marc Mayrand, disputed that claim, saying that these turned out to be almost all book-keeping errors, and in the last two elections combined, only 18 out of the tens of millions of people that voted were later found to be ineligible.
Some supporters of the bill have gone to great lengths to justify it. Brad Butt, a Conservative MP representing Mississauga, claimed in Parliament that he had seen people grab used VICs from the garbage can at the polling booth to use as fake IDs. The only problem? It wasn’t true. Two weeks later, he announced that he had “misspoken” and issued a non-apology that Rob Ford would be proud of.
Let’s not miss the bigger issue here. It isn’t that a handful of ineligible people are voting, it’s that millions of eligible voters aren’t showing up at the polls. Let’s be honest here – politics usually stinks, and a lot of people simply don’t like any of the major parties. But isn’t it worth at least showing up and exercising your right to choose? At a time when turnout is low among young voters (according to Elections Canada, 61 percent of eligible under-25 voters in Ontario didn’t vote), does it make sense to make it harder to vote?
Bill C-23 is now being studied by a multi-party committee. Perhaps the committee will remove some of the more controversial portions of the bill, and the Fair Elections Act might yet live up to its name. However, if it passes in its current form, all of us will need to keep up to date on the new ID rules, or else we might forfeit our cherished right to vote. It is worth wondering, however, if the Fair Elections Act is an act of self interest, rather than a motion to prevent electoral fraud. It may be something you want to ask yourself before you cast your next ballot.
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