During Canada’s elections yesterday, I volunteered as a scrutineer (i.e. an ‘observer’) at a polling station.
The rules work in the following way: if someone shows up to vote or to register to vote without a Voter Information Card, they can vote and/or register by presenting a government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license.
After seeing someone register to vote because they didn’t have a Voter Information Card, I asked someone from Elections Canada if a person had to provide proof of Canadian citizenship.
I was told that they did not have to provide proof of citizenship and, in fact, the personnel from Elections Canada working the polling station were forbidden from asking for proof of citizenship.
I didn’t know this. This sounds dirty. What party would allow those terms? It opens the door for non-citizens to vote, which is unethical, and for parties (and individuals) to abuse the voting process. How is an election policy that would open the door for non-Canadians to vote in Canada’s elections a good thing?
I later found out that the no-proof-of-citizenship requirement is a nefarious Liberal Party policy… Of course.
See: CBC News: ‘Didn’t register to vote? You can still do so on election day‘ Voters need to prove their identity and address, or another voter can vouch for them: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/register-to-vote-polling-station-1.7515636 –Note: here too, no proof of citizenship is being asked for.
Mind you, there is a $50,000 fine and/or imprisonment for making a false claim in the registration and voting process… but still… who’s checking?
I was told by a Conservative campaign manager that the Conservatives did make an issue about the Liberal policy of forbidding registrants from being asking for proof of citizenship, but the Liberals are in control of the show and had final say.
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is a Liberal stronghold in a sea of blue in Ontario. With 24 ridings, it has too many electoral seats, and thereby the GTA holds way too much sway as to who will govern Canada. My understanding is that those ridings were created in the 19th century when these areas were primarily farming communities, villages and towns. As the years passed, modernization occurred, and immigration, urbanization, and the growth of Toronto led to the absorption of other municipalities, forming what is now known as the GTA (in 1998), a megacity. The federal government should have intervened to reduce the number of electoral ridings in the city. The demographics, politics, economics, interests, social, and cultural factors have changed significantly over the past 100 years, as these formerly rural areas have become heavily populated urban areas of the GTA.
One can’t help but wonder how many non-citizens in the GTA voted? Half the city is foreign born; how many of those are actual citizens with the right to vote?
Meanwhile, in North-West Ontario the riding called Kenora—Kiiwetinoong, which is the size of some countries or bigger, is one seat. In North-East Ontario there is the riding of Kapuskasing—Timmins—Mushkegowuk, also the size of some countries or bigger, and it is one seat. The GTA is tiny in comparison to those two Northern Ontario ridings but has 24 electoral seats.
Some are going to say that population matters, but It’s not about population sizes it’s about regions and local interests and having an equal weight in voting interests.
For those who think that a majority vote is the way to go, this risks the “tyranny of the majority,” where a majority group can (or will) overpower or ignore the rights, interests and concerns of minority groups. This is why the British Parliamentary system, as we use in Canada, using electorial division/ridings, voting for local riding representatives, is in our interests. (In the US, it’s the electoral college that holds off the “tyranny of the majority.”) However, as I’ve been saying, in the case of the GTA it is not working fairly for Canadians electoral interests; there are too many seats in the GTA with too much political pull.
The elitists of the Liberal Party of Canada would never do the ethical thing for the sake of Canada and agree to reduce the number of electoral districts in the GTA because this is the bastion that has helped the Liberals (and our former lispy wispy man boy Prime Minister Trudeau) win again and again in the last ten years.
It’s unfortunate that the GTA is so key in deciding who governs the entire nation of Canada, while the Liberal Party pushes an malicious policy of no-citizenship-proof required for voting and registering at the polling stations. When half of the GTA’s population are foreign born, it is bound to see non-citizens and possibly bad actors taking advantage of the election loophole, while cheating Canadian citizens. The problem should be stopped before the vote, not after the vote.
ADDENDUM: On LinkedIn today, 30 April, Jeffery Green CD commented and provided a great link to Elections Canada Voter Registration Safeguards.
Even after reading the Voter Registration Safeguards, the issue of not having to provide citizenship still has me concerned. See a copy of our conversation below.
Link to Elections Canada Voter Registration Safeguards site that Jeffrey Green CD provided: https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=int/reg&document=index&lang=e
ADDENDUM 2: An insightful comment this evening today, 30 April, by a “seasoned senior federal government policy analyst/advisor,” Connie D:
–RdM
Nice piece, thanks for insight
Thanks, John.
Please see my latest addendum with the link to Elections Canada.
Another brilliant presentation Royce. Solid facts, full stop.