Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, first I would like to correct an erroneous report that was on CBC that I was the chairman of the Standing Committee on Legislation. I am not. At least, not yet.
---Laughter
I am merely a Member of the committee and I am just a messenger, so don't kill the messenger. I am just doing the committee's bidding.
Mr. Chairman, the standing committee is pleased to report that it has completed its review of Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Elections Act.
The committee held public meetings on this bill in Yellowknife on Monday, December 12, 1994. Bill 15 amends the Elections Act in a number of ways, primarily in response to the 1991 report of the chief electoral officer, hereafter called CEO, following the last territorial general election.
Proposed amendments to the act include:
- Allowing the chief electoral officer to set the period for enumeration of electors;
- Allowing inmates serving less than two years the right to vote;
- Improving enumeration procedures and the process for revision of the preliminary list of electors;
- Reducing advance polls from two days to one day, and refining the procedures for voting in advance polls;
- Improving the procedures governing election contributions and expenses;
- Changing the qualifications of certain election officials; and,
- Updating the regulations to provide for inmate voting procedures.
During the hearings, the committee did not hear from any members of the public regarding the provisions of this bill. However, discussions and deliberations among committee Members centred on two aspects of the proposed amendments.
Perhaps the most notable amendment in Bill 15 deals with the issue of the right of inmates to vote. The section describing the persons not qualified to vote would be amended to allow any person who is serving a sentence of less than two years in a correctional institution to vote in a general election. A related amendment provides for voting in correctional institutions to be held on advance polling day. This will permit the transmitting of ballots to the returning officers in the various electoral districts in advance of the polling day.
The background of this issue and the debate that has surrounded it, in Canada and the NWT, is well-known to Members of the Assembly in the wake of recent court rulings and constitutional challenges. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in May of 1993 that provisions similar to those found in the NWT legislation preventing inmates from voting were clearly unconstitutional.
The first issue that Members of the committee were concerned with was the ability, under these amendments, of an inmate to run for office, or for a sitting Member of the Assembly to retain his or her seat after being sentenced to jail. It should be noted that there are no proposed consequential amendments to the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, at the present time, to change the qualifications for sitting Members of the Legislative Assembly. Presently, if a person is a qualified elector, he or she can be a Member of the Assembly, notwithstanding, of course, the internal rules, procedures and sanctions the Assembly imposes upon itself.
Therefore, the Standing Committee on Legislation recommends that the appropriate steps be taken to amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act to change the qualifications for persons running for office and for sitting Members.
The second issue of concern to Members of the committee was the decision to restrict the inmate voting provision to those inmates serving less than two years. It was pointed out that some inmates in the NWT are serving more than two years. The committee generally felt that, while two years seemed to be a reasonable period of time, there was some support for allowing all inmates in the NWT to vote. This led to a brief discussion -- heated discussion -- of candidates' access to inmates for campaign purposes. Presently, incumbents are at an advantage in securing access to inmates. It may be necessary therefore, to modify current procedures to allow equal access to inmates by all candidates during an election.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Legislation on Bill 15. On December 12, 1994, the committee passed a motion that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Elections Act, be reported to the Assembly as ready for consideration in committee of the whole. That concludes the report, Mr. Chairman.