Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament for Kamloops – Thompson – Cariboo says the introduction of the Fair Elections Act (Bill C-23) in the House of Commons on Feb. 4, is part of the Government’s commitment to uphold the integrity of our electoral system.
“The Fair Elections Act will make our laws clear and easy to follow. It will also make life harder for election law-breakers and put the focus back on honest people taking part in our democratic system,” said McLeod.
This Act implements 38 of the Chief Electoral Officer’s past recommendations and addresses concerns raised by Canadians, various groups and think tanks, Elections Canada and Parliamentarians themselves.
The Fair Elections Act will:
• Protect voters from rogue calls with a mandatory public registry for mass calling, increasing penalties and prison time for impersonating elections officials.
• Give more independence to the Commissioner of Elections Canada, allowing them control over their staff and investigations, empowering them to seek tougher penalties for existing electoral offences, and providing more than a dozen new offences to combat big money, rogue calls, and fraudulent voting.
• Crack down on voter fraud by prohibiting vouching or Voter Information Cards as acceptable forms of ID.
• Make the rules for elections clear, predictable, and easier to follow.
• Ban the use of loans used to evade donation rules.
• Repeal the ban on premature transmission of election results, upholding free speech.
• Provide better customer service to voters, and establish an extra day of polling.
“Our government committed to introducing and implementing this legislation in time for the next federal election. I’m pleased that these new rules will be in place long before then. These new measures will ensure that electoral laws will be clearer and more effectively enforced in future elections,” concluded McLeod.
