[Nehkara]

Conservatives’ election bill is too important to be rammed through without changes

• The Tories have their hearts set on moving the office of the commissioner — where investigators work — away from Elections Canada, apparently to separate the regulatory and investigative functions.

But the Director of Public Prosecutions — who will appoint future commissioners — isn’t responsible for any other investigative agencies. Also, he reports to the government, not to Parliament. It’s hard to see how the move would allow for political interference, which is the really scary prospect, but it also poses problems.

The act limits the authority of [chief electoral officer] Mayrand in several ways. I like the idea of requiring him to post interpretations of rules, but the act appears designed to muzzle him, forbidding him from speaking to the public about anything except the location of voting booths.

This is either a drafting error or an unacceptably authoritarian move. It must be reversed.

• The same clause that forbids Mayrand from speaking would stop Elections Canada’s efforts to promote turnout. No more ad campaigns to encourage voting among groups with low turnout — like young people and aboriginals — groups that — what a coincidence! — don’t vote Tory.

Parties are no longer able to field the armies of volunteers like they once did, though, which causes Elections Canada big staffing headaches. The act gives the agency an extra week to staff up, but it also allows the incumbent party in each riding to appoint the central poll supervisor, which seems like a terrible idea.

On Wednesday, the day after they tabled the bill, after only a few hours of debate, the Conservatives moved to cut short debate before sending it to committee, which suggests the government plans to treat the legislative process for this bill as a ritual that must be endured, as is its habit.

But the legitimacy of our political system depends entirely on public faith in the electoral process, so the government has excellent reasons to allow this bill to be properly debated and amended as necessary.