Bill C-23, the “Fair Elections Act”

Anyone that is not a blind partisan Conservative can recognize quickly that bill C-23, dubbed the “Fair Elections Act” by Minister Pierre Poilievre, is anything but fair. I called my MP, Mr. Bev Shipley, several weeks ago to discuss my concerns. I explained that while I felt the bill had some redeeming qualities, overall it is deeply flawed and will only serve to further cement the Conservative Party’s ability to win additional elections.

I was able to bring up three points/questions during the call, to which Mr. Shipley repeated the same Conservative Party talking points being touted by everyone else that currently forms government. It was actually rather sad. My representative in Ottawa didn’t listen to my concerns. Instead he repeated the same tired talking points I’d already heard on TV and radio from other Conservative MPs.

I took to email last week to send Mr. Shipley the links to a five-part series by The Globe & Mail on just how poor of a job bill C-23 would in fact do at making elections more fair. You can read them here for yourself: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Additionally Press Progress has collected some anecdotes from Mr. Mayrand, dozens of electoral law experts, and even some foreign election/democracy experts. It doesn’t help that Mr. Poilievre constantly misrepresents the Neufeld report that allegedly supports many of the changes the bill attempts to make. I encourage you to read their concerns.

And just this week my friend Abe Oudshoorn was called to testify in front of the committee currently discussing bill C-23. He provided the vantage point of someone working with homeless citizens on how bill C-23 would affect homeless citizens’ voting abilities. The short version: it makes a hard situation even worse. The full video is worth watching, and also includes some advocates from Burnaby, BC who provide their points of view and experiences poignantly.