Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, I would hope that people would vote

against this motion because what I think it does clearly is it has a negative impact on being a candidate by being able to drop people off. If you are a candidate and you are called upon by an elder or a senior to bring those folks to the centre to vote, or whether it’s a community hall or community centre or whatnot, even though the polling station is buried within that building, you’re negatively impacted by bringing them up and into the entranceway. You would be violating this process and the rule by dropping them off. So without that clear definition, you would be in violation right then and there. So that’s why.

Now, can you imagine applying this Yellowknife sort of style of rule to a community when in a small community you don’t have the election machine to help organize and to go call two or three or 80 of your scrutineers to go pick up people?

So, again, it’s one of those things. You take away the grassroots element of an election ability of the candidate. On top of that, the reason the concept of brief visits came forward, it’s on the basis of the wording used in Alberta, and in Alberta the principle is you can bring people and drop them off. It’s meant to be reflective of “You Don’t Camp Out” at the station. You can bring people, drop them off and return them.

If I can further that with nowhere else including the federal government law through Elections Canada restricts candidates for dropping people off. This would now take a new unparalleled approach on how to do this. So ultimately, if people are worried about candidates campaigning, well that already exists, those laws. You cannot campaign whether you wear a button or not. You cannot campaign at a polling station anyway. So ultimately those rules already exist. This will now stop somebody from dropping folks off. So rules exist already and I would hope that Members of the Assembly here would consider committee’s recommendation to allow candidates to drop off voters and allow them to do their voting business and then be able to return them. Outside of this, it sort of sets up a premise that as a candidate, if I got phoned and asked if I could bring someone there, I would have to drop them off around the corner because I would be embarrassed to be seen in the area of dropping somebody off. I think it’s a very insulting process. If you are a small campaign, this significantly works against you.

As far as the incumbent factor, I have to say I disagree, only because the fact is you are never going to completely eliminate that no matter how you do this. This is based on an element of the candidate has the right to be able to drop people off and this motion or this amendment will negatively impact that. I don’t think you will see it as bad in Yellowknife, but you will see it horribly in the communities when, like I said, you have very few

volunteers and scrutinizers and whatnot to do those things. The candidate really needs, in a grassroots way, to do a lot of the work and this takes away that function. You are going to see an impact that way. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.