Elections overhaul bill includes loophole that could hinder investigations into fraud between election cycles
PARLIAMENT HILL—Opposition MPs mounting a last stand Tuesday in the face of government closure of debate on controversial election bill discovered yet more “bread crumbs for a starving man” as they realized last-minute Conservative amendments include a loophole that could hinder completion of investigations into fraud on voters between elections. The provision, an amendment to […]
Majority sides with Supreme Court ruling on Senate reform, not Prime Minister’s Office
PARLIAMENT HILL—A majority of Canadians sides with a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that Canada’s Constitution would prevent the federal government from unilateral reforms to the Senate, over Prime Minster Stephen Harper’s position that Parliament should be able to impose a form of Senate elections and new term limits on its own, a […]
Feds ‘making haste’ with massive elections overhaul bill ‘dangerous,’ says expert
PARLIAMENT HILL—A government deadline that drew an abrupt end Thursday to detailed committee examination of its controversial election legislation is a “dangerous” tactic for a new law that is at the core of Canada’s democratic system, one of the country’s leading parliamentary experts says. “This government has been known to try and slip things […]
Director of public prosecutions says feds’ elections bill could lower public confidence
PARLIAMENT HILL—A provision in the government’s sweeping new election legislation contains a provision that could lower public confidence in the way alleged Canada Elections Act violations are investigated, the federal director of public prosecutions warns. One of the most controversial clauses in Bill C- 23, the Fair Elections Act, proposes to transfer the commissioner […]
Elections commissioner ends robocalls investigation, but opposition MPs say report shows Bill C-23 needs to be beefed up
PARLIAMENT HILL—A report from a three-year Elections Canada investigation that found insufficient evidence of widespread attempts to mislead voters with fraudulent telephone calls in the 2011 federal election nonetheless supports calls to beef up the federal election commissioner’s investigative powers, opposition MPs say. The report from Elections Commissioner Yves Coté Thursday highlighted the fact […]
Tory Senators recommend ditching fundraising loophole in C-23 as Liberal donors rise
PARLIAMENT HILL – The number of donors to the Liberal party climbed steadily to 69,000 last year, a total that is up by more than a third from 2012 under the new leadership of Justin Trudeau and suggests the Liberals are building the kind of expertise that could challenge the Conservative fundraising juggernaut as the […]
Push by Conservative Senators has all the elements of a marvelous yarn
The push by Conservative Senators to amend Stephen Harper’s Elections Act had all the elements of a marvelous yarn. The unelected Senators had taken their revenge, biting back and riding in on their white steed to save democracy, showing their relevancy and putting the government on its heels. Unfortunately, it is nonsense. What Conservative […]
Harper’s (Un)Fair Elections Act could spark voter surge
POWELL RIVER, B.C.—The Harper government seems intent on proving to its detractors that things can always get worse. They’ve one-upped themselves with the farce called the Fair Elections Act. It has been described as a direct threat to the right to vote and an assault on democracy by the very people our democracy assigns […]
To vouch or not to vouch: that is the question
TORONTO—Editorialists, academics, opposition parties, election officials, and representatives of various groups have criticized the federal government’s Elections Act. They claim it undermines Canadian democracy and violates the constitutionally entrenched right to vote. Elections acts are fundamentally different from other forms of legislation such trade treaties, budgets, or the bills dealing with veterans, drugs, and […]
‘Most of major attacks on democracy in C-23 left untouched by Senators’ in committee report, say NDP, Libs
PARLIAMENT HILL—A puzzling aspect has emerged over nine amendments Senate Conservatives recommended to the controversial government bill that would radically alter federal election law: why would the Senators ignore a widely-denounced clause that could prevent tens of thousands of electors from casting ballots in the next election, while urging the government to remove a party […]
