Niagara, Ontario’s Welland Riding MPP Malcolm Allen
An Editorial Comment from Niagara, Ontario area MP Malcolm Allen
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have a bad record when it comes to respecting our election laws. Now they want to skew the next election in their favour with voter suppression tactics straight out of the U.S. Republican playbook.
The so-called “Fair Elections act” will block tens of thousands of Canadians from proving their right to vote by eliminating the long-standing practice of vouching and the use of voter ID cards. Aboriginal peoples, university students living away from home, the homeless, or seniors in residence are all groups that are less likely to have eligible ID or mail on hand – and thus require someone to vouch for them. In the last election, approximately 100 000 people used vouching to exercise their right to vote. It’s clear that the Conservatives are targeting certain demographics with these provisions.
While the bill makes it harder for ordinary Canadians to vote, it will actually make it easier for big-money interests to influence our elections by raising the donation limit to $1,500 and introducing loopholes to party fundraising spending.
After widespread voter suppression and fraud during the 2011 election, this long-awaited legislation was supposed to offer tools to crack down on abuse. Instead of increasing the powers of the Chief Electoral Officer, the Conservatives are stripping Elections Canada of its investigative power, and are even banning the agency from promoting the right to vote.
Canadians deserve better. They deserve genuine electoral reform that stops fraud, prevents big money from distorting elections and ensures every Canadian can exercise their right to vote. Unfortunately, Stephen Harper has given us the opposite.
Malcolm Allen is the NDP MP for Niagara’s Welland Riding
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Niagara At Large 
Can’t believe the cons are able to fool so many people … corporate media enables our descent to third/fourth rate status. Canada could be so much more ….
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Agree fully on the article. I might add that a further concern is that whoever is appointed by Harper to oversee the elections would also provide its findings to the government in power (the Harper government) and not to parliament. This is the most blatant erosion of the democratic process we have ever experienced. This alone should bring Canadians to their feet in opposition to such abuse of our electoral system.
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