Partisanship to the Party

As the year goes on, the days become longer, temperatures start to rise and so do tempers in the House of Commons. Parliament is entering the fifth straight week of sitting with a break week on the horizon. Then there will be another five weeks of sittings before the session ends for the summer. Parliamentarians are getting frustrated with each other. From foul language in the house, filibustering at committee, and just simply playing politics, it’s clear that something could break at any minute, including this minority parliament. 

Minority governments in Canada traditionally last just over a year and a half and in a few weeks, Prime Minister Trudeau’s government will pass this milestone. Despite all the major parties saying they don’t want an election, it seems like an election in the fall is inevitable. But this is a minority parliament, so an election could happen at any time. That is why last year the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada, Stéphane Perrault, began preparing for an election and asked parliament to do the same. In response, the government introduced Bill C-19 last December. Since then, the bill has sat on the order paper mainly untouched with each party blaming the other for the delay. 

Elections Canada

Like many things, COVID-19 has forced people and organizations to rethink how business is conducted. Elections Canada is no exception and has spent the past year rethinking the entire process of sending Canadians to the polls. The focus of their efforts is the safety of voters, poll workers, and Canada’s democracy. To protect poll workers, Elections Canada has procured their own personal protective equipment including 19 million masks, gloves, and dividers. They’ve also drawn upon the experience of provincial elections in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and, of course, the US presidential election.  

Unlike our neighbours to the south, Elections Canada has been clear that Canada’s next election will happen by pencil and paper, not through digital voting machines or online. Elections Canada has purchased 16 million pencils for the next election, so no pencil has to be used twice. Besides pencils at polling stations, Elections Canada believes that there will be up to five million people voting by mail in ballots. This represents considerable growth when compared to the 54,000 people that voted by mail in 2019. Once mailed, a ballot will be opened by hand and counted by at least two poll workers with no machines. Before Elections Canada can make other major changes, they will need to wait for Bill C-19 to pass. 

Why are we Here?

The simple answer to why are we here is because of COVID-19. But the reality is much more than that. Bill C-19 looks to change how Canadians vote to ensure that Elections Canada has the power to hold a safe and fair election. Beyond purchasing enough pencils for a nation, Elections Canada needs more guidance from Parliament on how to hold the election. C-19 does just that and changes how an election can occur. This includes:

  • Allowing for a three-day voting period, rather than the usual one day;
  • Increasing the accessibility for voters to get and cast mail-in ballots;
  • Creating more mobile polls for long-term care facilities.

To appear like the party not forcing an election, each party has dug their heels in to move C-19 along. The government claims that the opposition, specifically the Conservative Party, is holding up the bill. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc, went as far to suggest that Conservatives actually want to discourage voters from casting ballots in the next election. Meanwhile, the Conservatives claim that the government only has themselves to blame since they set the agenda and have only allowed for three hours of debate on the bill since December. Conservative House Leader Gerard Deltell stated if the bill was passed at second reading on principal, it would be sent to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC). At PROC, Liberal members have been filibustering the committee for over 40 hours to block the Prime Minister or other senior officials from testifying regarding last summer’s decision to prorogue Parliament for six weeks. 

Last Friday, the government gave notice that they would use time allocation on the bill. Meaning that opposition parties will have less time to debate the bill in the House before passing it along to committee. The move to use this procedural tactic signals that the government views this as priority legislation, similar to passing the budget. This means it will likely be looked at by the Senate before the session ends in June. Though the government will have to make some sacrifices, like ending the filibuster at PROC, or this bill likely remains on the sidelines. 

What’s Next? 

An election is inevitable. The real question is, when will the election be? Will it be over the summer, in the fall or once the pandemic is fully behind us? The answer to this is unclear, but what is clear is that if an election was to occur and Canadians are still battling COVID, C-19 will need to be passed. Voters need to vote safely, and campaigns will need to engage with voters safely.