Things could get ugly when the polls open on Election Day, 2015. Stephen Maher writes:
When Elections Canada mails out Voter Information Cards this fall, a new sentence in bold letters will appear at the bottom: Please note that this card is not a piece of ID.
This means that on election day, tens of thousands of people will likely turn up at their polling station, voter cards in hand, only to learn that they can’t vote.
In the last election, 400,000 Canadians used these cards to identify themselves. Another 120,171 had someone, usually a neighbour or relative, vouch for their identity.
This time there will be none of that, thanks to the Fair Elections Act passed by the Conservative government last year.
It's not that this problem was unforeseen. Harry Nuefeld, an expert on Canadian elections, warned the Conservatives that there would be problems:
“It can be anticipated that many tens of thousands of otherwise fully qualified voters will simply be unable to meet the new attestation-of-residence requirements,” he writes. "During my 33 years of election administration … my observation is that voting fraud which involves persons deciding to impersonate someone else, or find some other creative way to vote more than once, is extremely rare in this country.”
But Pierre Poilievre, the minister responsible for ramming the "Fair" Elections Act through Parliament, would have none of it. There was potential fraud everywhere, he claimed. What he didn't say was that he and his party know that the majority of Canadians don't buy what he and they are selling. The only way to stay in power is to make sure that the majority of Canadians don't get to the polls.
10 comments:
Why is that little shit still walking around on two legs?
Good question, Dana. In Harperland, loyalty to the boss appears to mean everything.
Guess what!
What is old is new again.
What we need is a massive civil rights campaign with workers organizing and educating people and helping them to vote this October.
Who would've believed that this would actually be a necessity in Canada in the 21st Century?
The lesson, Anon, is: Never underestimate humanity's capacity to march backwards.
Off course the Harper regime will use some of their taxpayer provided advertising budget to make sure that the voters know to get the appropriate identification lined up ahead of time ....NOT!
More probable is that between the new rules and budget restrictions the public will be left in the dark.
I despair for our Country, Owen.
We're returning to the Dark Ages, Rural. There is reason to despair.
Pierre Poilievre never grew up he is sure there are monsters under his bed and every Canadians bed. The only monsters I see in Canada are Harper-cons especially in the cabinet the PMO and 24 Sussex Drive. Plus they do hide under our beds watching every move we make every breath we take they will be watching you. Sad state of affairs how could one man Steve Joe Harper do this much damage in this short of a time span? It is beyond me.
Nothing to cheer about,
Mogs
We let him in the House, Mogs. And he immediately set about destroying the place.
Your right Owen. Seems like everything Harper does is geared to having the majority as uninvolved as possible.
He's all about firing up the small minority who support him, Pam. From the beginning he has believed in the rule of the few.
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