In
the Parliament Bill C-19, An Act to Amend the
Canada Elections Act
(COVID-19 Response) "Free and Fair Elections" Are Meaningless Without an Informed Vote: MLPC National Leader The Trudeau government has tabled
new legislation adapting the electoral law in the event that an
election is called during COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Bill C-19, An
Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19
Response) was tabled in the House of Commons on December 10
by the President of the Queen's Privy Council, Dominic LeBlanc. It was
scheduled for second reading and referral to the Standing Committee on
Procedure and House Affairs at the next House sitting. On December 11,
the House was adjourned until Monday, January 25. The
duty of tabling the legislation fell to LeBlanc because, following its
2019 re-election, the Liberal government eliminated the long-standing
ministerial portfolio specifically responsible for democratic reforms.
This Ministry was tainted by the Liberal's high-handed rejection of the
recommendations of its own Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral
Reform. To date, the Liberals simply dismiss the fact that they reneged
on their promise to end the first-past-the-post method of counting
ballots because the Prime Minister did not agree with the Committee's
recommendation and wanted a self-serving preferential system instead.
Since coming to
power in 2015, the Trudeau Liberals have shown a propensity for
governing with contempt for Parliament and its Committees. This was
again illustrated by Bill C-19 being tabled before
the parliamentary committee entrusted with studying the issue of
pandemic elections had tabled its report. The Committee's report,
entitled "Protecting Public Health and Democracy During a Possible
Pandemic Election," was tabled on December 11 by the Committee chair,
Liberal MP Ruby Sahota, requesting a "comprehensive response," from the
government. Both the Conservative Opposition and the Bloc
Québécois voiced their opposition to this
procedure, with the Bloc Québécois filing a
dissenting opinion in which it "insist[s] on the fact that it is
unacceptable that the government tabled [Bill C-19] even before the
final committee report was tabled." The Committee heard from health
experts and representatives of particularly vulnerable sections of the
people, such as the Canadian Association for Long Term Care, the
Council of Canadians with Disabilities, as well as health officials
from several provinces. Similarly, the Liberals
rushed to call by-elections for the ridings of Toronto Centre and York
Centre for October 26, without having established how the elections
would be conducted safely, disregarding opposition to it doing so.
Elections Canada put various safety measures in place, such as
providing single-use pencils for marking ballots, and instituting
physical-distancing at the polls. More enhanced measures, however,
require legislative changes. Canada's Chief Electoral Officer
Stéphane Perrault delivered a special report to Parliament
on October 6 on how an election might be delivered during a pandemic.
Elections Canada also submitted its list of proposed legislative
changes in early October, including a model bill. But the Liberals
chose to draft their own bill. Elections Canada has informed it is now
studying the legislation to assess its implication on the conduct of an
election. Should a snap election be called prior to the legislation
receiving Royal Assent, Elections Canada would follow the same
protocols it used during the by-elections. Bill
C-19, among other things, will make it easier for electors to register
to cast ballots by mail as it will enable electronic submission of
documents. Elections Canada predicts that up to five million electors
would opt to vote by mail, as compared to the nearly 50,000 in the 2019
federal election. Measures proposed in Bill C-19
around mail-in ballots include: - installing ballot
drop-off boxes at every polling place where people who are cutting it
too close to mail-in deadlines can submit their ballot on time to have
it counted; - new offences -- a maximum penalty of
five years in prison, a fine of $50,000 or both -- for tampering or
interfering with these secure drop-off boxes; -
allowing Canadians to register for a mail-in ballot from home, online;
- permitting voters to vote in-person, even if they registered
to vote by mail, so long as they either turn in their mail-in ballot
unmarked, or sign an attestation that they have not already submitted
it; and - setting up a system to allow people to
receive an online receipt of when their mail-in ballot has been
delivered, as well as rules around the deadlines to send in special
ballots. In addition, the regular 12-hour one-day
Monday polling will be spread out over Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
This will allow for polling places to be properly cleaned and reduce
the strain of long hours for election workers on the single day. It is
hoped that long line-ups will be avoided. Other
measures include enabling Elections Canada to establish a single
polling place at long-term care centres and similar residences, where
staggered voting would be allowed over a 13-day period prior to regular
polling. Elections Canada also requested that it be allowed to select
polling locations based on their size and suitability for
social-distancing rather than the statutory criteria based on proximity
to electors. Bill C-19 also enhances the Chief
Electoral Officer's powers to take special measures to protect the
health and safety of electors and election workers. This would include
extending voting hours in a situation where the polling station was
interrupted by a health emergency. The measures
introduced in the bill will take effect 90 days after they receive
Royal Assent, or less should the Chief Electoral Officer determine that
Elections Canada is ready to put them into effect sooner. They are
temporary in nature and will be repealed once the Chief Electoral
Officer, in consultation with the Chief Public Health Officer,
determines they are no longer necessary. In a
backgrounder to Bill C-19, LeBlanc states: "By introducing these
temporary amendments, Elections Canada will be able to offer more ways
for Canadians to vote during a pandemic. I look forward to working with
my parliamentary colleagues to deliver our shared goal of a free, fair
and safe election." This statement and other
background information show that the changes are all about facilitating
Canadians' ability to cast a vote; nothing is being done to deal with
the substantive problems related to election campaigning. The absence
of a level playing field when it comes to the right of Canadians to
elect and be elected and the absence of mechanisms to guarantee the
right to an informed ballot are a problem at the best of times. They
will be far more pronounced in restrictive pandemic conditions.
Asked about these temporary changes to the Canada
Elections Act, National Leader of the Marxist-Leninist Party
of Canada (MLPC) Anna Di Carlo highlighted some of the problems which
come up during an election campaign in pandemic conditions. For
example, collecting 100 nominations from electors in a riding and
having access to people in their homes and apartment buildings. During
recent by-elections, Elections Canada modified the prescribed
nomination form for collecting signatures. It created a form for one
signature so that it would not be passed from elector to elector.
Nonetheless, access to apartment buildings was clearly restricted while
homeowners, logically, are not eager to answer their doors to strangers
either. Several candidates were not able to register due to
difficulties related to safely collecting nomination signatures.
Elections Canada did not recommend that the nomination signatures
requirement be changed; and the Liberal government does not appear to
view this to be a problem. Most important, Anna
said, is the impression the government continues to push that Canadian
elections are what is called "free and fair." Because the same
regulations apply to everyone, there is said to be an "even playing
field" -- which is to say that everyone is allegedly equal. "This is
far from the case," she said. "Most egregious is
the violation of the right to an informed vote," she said. She decried
the manipulation of what are called "election issues." "The 'issues'
they emphasize do not take up the concerns of the people. They are set
by the ruling class and the monopoly-controlled media as a means of
disinforming the people. In other words, they are set to
impede the people from organizing themselves politically on the basis
of a program they set for themselves. The cartel parties and media
determine what will be promoted and make sure no discussion takes place
on substantive issues," Anna said. "This will cause even more harm
during an election held under pandemic conditions."
Discussion forums held by small parties and collectives of
workers, women and youth, are already discouraged, Anna pointed out.
Anna further elaborated this matter of who sets agendas and
how discussion takes place during an election: "How
virtual forums will be regulated and accounted for is also an issue at
this time. The intelligence agencies have been given a prominent role
in monitoring what can and cannot be said on social media, according to
what they determine constitutes a threat to national security. Along
with self-serving definitions of what constitutes privacy and requires
protection, and what concerns national security, the role given to the
intelligence agencies and potential for them to disrupt exchange of
ideas and political discourse is becoming a serious matter facing the
polity. The airwaves are filled with accusations about the potential
for Chinese or Russian disruption of the democratic institutions when
in fact the spy agencies linked to the United States are past-masters
when it comes to such things." Anna
pointed out that Bill C-19 establishes voting procedures as if this is
the sum total of what an election is about. "They are not a problem in
Canada in the sense that Elections Canada makes great efforts to ensure
barriers to casting a ballot are overcome. The problems lie in the fact
that Canadians are kept out of power by a cartel party system which
eliminates any role for the citizens to actually participate in
governance. Their sole role is to cast a ballot and they have no way to
hold governments to account. The idea that an election provides the
opportunity to endorse or change a government is farcical when
Canadians do not control any aspect of the electoral system," Anna said.
Anna further explained: "Despite being able to get themselves
nominated as independents, nobody will even find out about them.
Spending limits may exist and be the same for all candidates, but most
people cannot raise these kinds of funds. There is absolutely no 'free
and fair' playing field when it comes to getting heard. "This
is why the MLPC encourages Canadians to become worker politicians and
develop their own means of disseminating their views and develop their
own independent politics. The old system whereby the people are
supposed to hand over their voice to a political party to act on their
behalf is rotten to the core. These political parties serve the program
of international private interests. Just look at what Trudeau is doing
vis-à-vis health care. In the name of paying all costs of
COVID-19 vaccines, oodles of money is being borrowed from private
sources to pay big pharma. Health care is being privatized and even
provincial jurisdiction over health care is being eliminated 'by
stealth.' In the name of efficiency and people's well-being, the army
has been handed the task of distributing vaccines. The army
and health officials are establishing criteria and arrangements as if
all of it is very above-board and public-minded. But Canadians will
suffer the consequences in many ways as a result of this takeover of
civil society by armed forces which are being handed control of all
aspects of life. Who sets that direction for the economy? Not Canadians
in any shape or form." Asked to explain further the
issue of an informed vote, Anna said, "It is a fundamental issue. In
this day and age, any measure taken at any level in the electoral
process must be seen to uphold the right to an informed vote. Without
this, any attempt to declare that those elected have the consent of the
governed seriously lacks credibility." She
specifically mentioned that most independent candidates and small
registered political parties are treated with utter disregard and
disrespect. During the 2019 federal election, not one national media
outlet contacted the National Headquarters of MLPC or even saw fit to
interview the National Leader. "Inequality," Anna explained, "is built
into the Canada Elections Act. It even stipulates
that the ruling party should get the biggest share of
publicly-controlled broadcasting air time. The media takes its cue from
this system of conferring privileges. "We recently
participated in a meeting of registered political parties to discuss
the allocation of broadcasting time. There is a provision that allows
the Broadcasting Arbitrator to adjust the allocation of time if it is
unfair to a party, or against the public interest. If the parties can
come to a consensus on how time is divided, the Broadcasting Arbitrator
complies. The minority of parties at the meeting, meaning those who
benefit from the unequal division of time, would not support equality.
In the 2019 federal election, the small parties received six to seven
minutes of free air time, while the Liberal Party received 48 minutes.
On top of this, the ads of the small parties are typically aired in
time-slots when nobody is watching TV or listening to the radio. Six or
seven one-minute ads do not amount to providing Canadians with
information to cast an informed vote. It is farcical. During the
meeting to discuss the allocation for the next election, the Liberal
Party representative said such blatant inequality 'represents the will
of the people.'" "These problems merit attention,"
Anna said. "What we are speaking about here is a fundamental principle
of equality which does not exist in Canada's system of governance." She
continued: "While Bill C-19
is justified as merely addressing temporary changes due to the
pandemic, the Trudeau government's reversal of promises to change the
method of voting to make the vote more representative cannot be
ignored. Self-serving decisions made by those in positions of privilege
and power over who is more legitimate and who is more deserving to
govern have completely dispensed with any perception that the playing
field is in any way 'even' or 'fair.' That will not change with these
temporary pandemic changes to how, when and where votes can be cast.
"Every decision, up to when an election is called, poses a
barrier to the ability of Canadians to participate in an election on an
equal basis. Attempts to justify a political process that delegitimizes
political opinion because it is outside the bounds of the official body
of thought serves to limit what Canadians hear during an election in
favour of those who form part of the establishment forces. It is
anti-democratic to say the least." Anna explained
that prior to the 2019 federal election, Simon Fraser University issued
one of the largest and most comprehensive studies conducted in the
recent period about the state of Canada's democracy and what people
think about it. The report found that a solid majority (61 per cent)
"believes government puts establishment interests ahead of ordinary
Canadians." It said 70 per cent believe that government is insensitive
to what ordinary Canadians think. "Such feelings
among the people underscore their perception of how power and privilege
work. They point to the crisis of legitimacy and credibility of the
electoral process and the political process in general," Anna said.
"If an informed vote is not recognized as a basic tenet of the
democratic process by those with the power to reform the electoral act,
what is democratic about the act?" Anna asked. "The temporary pandemic
measures do not even pretend to address the fact that independent
candidates and those of small registered political parties are not
treated equally. "Instead the entire system is
based on a false claim that some parties and party candidates are more
legitimate than others -- a contrived social construct which is surely
not acceptable in our day. Because of the narrow private interests it
serves and which control it, the electoral process will continue to be
perceived as one that does not confer the consent of the governed on
whatever party wins an election, no matter what kind of a majority is
claimed or how, when and where votes can be cast. Unless citizens are
able to cast an informed vote, the conditions required for them to
exercise control over their choices and elected representatives and
governments do not exist," she said. The Trudeau
regime will go down in history as introducing an increasingly
discriminatory approach towards who can be heard during an election and
for concentrating power in fewer hands and in more foreign hands as
well. It has used both the legislative process and its prerogative
powers to heighten discrimination, as was seen by the Leaders' Debate
Commission eliminating any political parties other than the major
parties with representation in the House. These are all factors that
facilitate the cronyism, corruption and cartel behaviour which
predominate today. It confirms the self-serving character of the
electoral and political process. Democratic-minded people recognize
this as a serious problem that must be addressed if they are not to
lose everything to the whims of those in positions of power and
privilege." Asked what
proposals the MLPC advocates to modify the Canada Elections
Act in a manner which favours the people right away, Anna
explained: "Currently, electors can go onto the
Elections Canada website and find out who all the candidates are in
their riding. But when it comes to finding out what the candidates
stand for, they are left on their own. Of course, in the media they
hear nothing except what the parties in the House are saying. We think
that Elections Canada should be mandated to provide at least basic
information about each candidate as provided by themselves and that
this would help Canadians to cast an informed vote. The same should be
done for every political party that fields candidates. This does
nothing to deal with all the noise which fills the airwaves before and
during an election designed to divide the people behind one or another
faction of the ruling class, to their own detriment, but is a small
thing which the people would appreciate." In
conclusion, Anna said it is very indicative of the state of affairs
that the only problem of concern to Parliament seems to be to get
people to vote so they can claim a mandate to rule in their name. "It
is striking that neither during the by-elections held in October, nor
in the discussion to date about pandemic elections, is the issue of how
to engage in political discussions with the electors raised. The MLPC
calls on Canadians to develop their own independent political stands
and organize on that basis. They must not permit the elimination of the
human factor/social consciousness by the self-serving private interests
which have usurped power in this country. It creates a dangerous
situation where the only option left is to be criminalized for fighting
for the rights which belong to us by virtue of being human. It must not
pass!"
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