Page Content
The Fair Elections Act, aka Bill C-23, is under scrutiny. Critics are numerous and include a broad cast of characters, ranging from political satirist Rick Mercer, to former auditor general Sheila Fraser, to ATA President Mark Ramsankar. "It’s ironic Bill C-23 is called the Fair Elections Act because there is nothing fair about it. What it will do is strip hundreds of thousands of Canadians of their ability to vote," said Ramsankar.
In its current incarnation, Bill C-23 proposes changes to everything from candidate conduct to campaign contribution limits. It addresses high profile issues that have surfaced in recent elections, such as closer stricter robo-call protocols and recognizing the impersonation of a candidate or a candidate’s representative as an offence.
While Bill C-23 proposes some positive amendments, it also proposes some alarmingly undemocratic changes. In particular, the new bill would prohibit individuals from using voter information cards as proof of identity, eliminate the ability of a potential voter to have his or her identity confirmed by another person able to vouch for the voter, and restrict the chief electoral officer’s participation in the Student Vote program, to which it provides the majority of funding.
Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand questioned the foresight and wisdom of the amendments, commenting on the more than 100,000 electors who, in the last federal election, required vouching before they could cast a ballot. "What will happen to those electors in the next election? Not clear to me," said Mayrand in an interview
on CBC Radio’s The House. "We tend to forget that we live in a very diverse country, that people live in very different circumstances across the country and there’s still a number of Canadians for whom it [appropriate voter ID] is quite a significant barrier."
Ramsankar believes that Alberta teachers share Mayrand’s concern. In their day-to-day interactions with students, they gain first-hand knowledge of the barriers faced by a diverse range of students—and their families. "It might be circumstances of age, disability, language or finances that haven’t allowed them to obtain the identification required to vote and that shouldn’t take away their right to vote if they have someone who can legitimately vouch for them—processes to get passports and driver’s licences aren’t easy or cheap," said Ramsankar. "The changes are also likely to kill Student Vote, a program successfully used by many teachers to heighten awareness of public policy and encourage civic responsibility among our students—who are our future voters."
