Opposition parties react to the Tories’ Fair Elections Act

There are mixed reviews for the Conservative Party's Fair Elections Act.

Pierre Poilievre, the minister of state for democratic reform, unveiled the Harper government's proposed legislation to overhaul Elections Canada — our elections' watchdog — on Tuesday morning.

"The Fair Elections Act will ensure everyday citizens are in charge of democracy, by putting special interests on the sidelines and rule-breakers out of business," Poilievre told reporters.

"The bill also makes it harder to break elections law. It closes loopholes to big money, imposes new penalties on political imposters who make rogue calls, and empowers law enforcement with sharper teeth, a longer reach and a freer hand."

Some of the most notable elements of the bill are as follows:

- Protect voters from rogue calls and impersonation: The government is calling for a new CRTC registry of voter contact service providers which will have access to call scripts. Moreover, anyone caught impersonating a candidate, a political party or Elections Canada will face tougher fines and even jail time.

- Separating the Elections Canada Commissioner from the Chief Electoral Officer: The government is separating the administration of elections from the enforcement of election law. The Chief Electoral Officer will continue to oversee elections while the Commissioner -- who will be appointed to a non-renewable 7 year fixed term -- will now be will be within the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

- No more vouching: The government proposes the elimination of “vouching” for other voters who lack proper identification at the ballot box.

- Repealing the ban on premature transmission of election results: The bill will lift the ban on sharing election results on election night. So, starting the next election, voters in the west, will get to know the results when polls close in the east.

- Raising the limit on donations: The bill raises the political contribution limit — the amount of money an individual can donate to a federal political party in a given year — to $1,500 from $1,200. The overall spending limit for national and local campaigns will also increase by 5 per cent each.

The ministry's press release which outlines the new measures can be seen here.

[ Related: Elections law changes would register robocalls, raise spending caps ]

Reaction to the 300 page bill was slow in coming.

In the House of Commons, during Question Period, Justin Trudeau alleged that the proposed legislation strips Elections Canada of it's investigative powers and attacks its independence.

"Conservatives continue to attack Elections Canada," said the Liberal leader.

"Elections Canada repeatedly sought the ability to ask judges to compel tesitimony in cases of election fraud. As we know, this government did not even consult with Elections Canada on this bill so this reasonable and effective reform to strengthen our system was left out."

NDP MP Craig Scott attacked the Conservatives over the new penalties for voter fraud.

"My bill on fighting electoral fraud proposed fines of up to $500,000. The Chief Electoral Officer proposed up to $250,000. Well the government's bill limits fines to just $50,000 — ten times less than the NDP proposal," he said in the House.

"So why has the government failed to tough punishments who commit serious election fraud?"

Green Party leader Elizabeth May is against eliminating the vouching system.

"To improve voter turnout, we should repeal all the changes, including the photo ID requirement, that make it harder for young people, First Nations, the poor, and seniors to vote. We need better voter enumeration in advance," May, said in press release.

"In Canada, our problem isn’t people voting more than once, it’s people voting less than once."

Finally, Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch, says he's generally happy with the legislation but has some concern about it giving influence to those who have a lot of money.

"The federal Conservatives' so-called "Fair Elections Act" is good in that it contains almost all of Democracy Watch's proposals to stop fraud robocalls," Conacher, a coordinator for the independent democracy watchdog, told Yahoo Canada News in an email exchange.

"[The] Act is bad because it hikes donation limits, removes the ban on unlimited secret gifts to election candidates, and allows banks to make unlimited loans to candidates, and all these changes will allow wealthy people and the banks to have more undemocratic and corrupting influence over politicians."

Debate on the new bill is expected to start in parliament on Wednesday.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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