Promises – Openness, Transparency and Service.

Continuing our review of the Liberal Partys promises we turn to:=
Openness and Transparency.
Amending the Access to Information Act so that all government data and information is made open by default in machine-readable, digital formats.
Accelerating and expanding open data initiatives and continually look for additional opportunities to do so.
Creating a central, no-fee portal for personal information requests.

All of the above, except the access to information item, has been underway for some time however it appears that some of the restrictions put upon those trying to initiate this within government by the previous regime have slowed and hampered the efforts and in fact deliberately ignored / abused the existing system . We hope that a less restrictive environment will speed up and expand these efforts.

The promise to “Create a single window for all government services, and work with the provinces and territories on ways to combine online access efforts.” would seem to part of this effort. There is already a “ individualized, secure accounts for Canadians who want to access all of their government benefits” and this can no doubt be expanded and be made more accessible.
It would seem to make sense to eliminate duplication of access to services with the provinces both on and off line and here I am going to suggest it may be the time to consider a proposal contained in a 2008 senate report largely ignored by the previous regime that being:-
RECOMMENDATION 2-3: The committee recommends that the federal government work with provincial, territorial and municipal governments to identify ways in which a range of existing and new services might be delivered through existing rural infrastructure points such as rural post offices.
Many folks, particularly in rural areas do not have access to reliable, affordable, unlimited internet and the provision of some services at your local post office would help keep our postal service alive and make services more accessible for many citizens.

Under the heading of Better Service for Canadians we see this which closely mirrors the above:-
Introduce a significant overhaul of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) operating practices to proactively contact Canadians when they are entitled to, but are not, receiving tax benefits; offering to create returns for clients, particularly lower income Canadians.

This one has bugged the hell out of me and many other citizens, particularly senior citizens, for years. Having to 'apply' for certain benefits year after year by filling out a form which mirrors the information already provided in your tax return (and which is then checked against that information upon receipt) is ridiculous and just wastes government resources. Similarly not informing folks (youth, seniors, physically and mentally challenged individuals etc etc) of support services, both financial and physical, to which they may be entitled may reduce the use of same but is wrong on so many levels. There is no doubt that there is room for improvement on this file.


A couple more promises include:-

Create a common, quarterly, and more detailed parliamentary expense report, make the Board of Internal Economy open by default.
A more open government is always a good thing in my view we just hope that such practices become the norm within Canada. Let us have both MP and Senators individual and office expenditures reported (and publicly available) on a timely basis, That is not annually some months after the year end but quarterly within 30 to 60 days.


Combat international tax evasion; and ending the CRA political harassment of charities, as well as clarifying rules to affirm the important role that charities play in developing and advocating for public policy in Canada.
Genuine charities that do “good work” or otherwise enhance society should continue to be free to publish their points of view without being hassled by the CRA, however there are those that are in fact political in their entire reason for existence who were not audited during Harpers attack on charities. Lets set reasonable rules across the board and ensure that the CRA follows them without bias.


Make Statistics Canada fully independent with a mandate to collect data needed by the private sector, other orders of government etc, etc. Strengthened Statistics Canada to make available more detailed labour market information, child development data,
and statistics on natural capital.
Having already restored the long form census I suspect that this will be instituted in short order. Labour market details are essential for establishing who and where need attention in regards to employment, more detailed LOCAL reports are desperately needed to cover specific areas and needs.


Finally they say they will:-
Create a Prime Minister’s Youth Advisory Council, of young Canadians and Mobilize the experience and knowledge of Canadians using evolving technologies.....
I am not quite sure how this is going to work, does this mean that they are going to take notice of chatter on 'social media', I sure as hell hope that the 'input' will be more substantive than that, its a good thing to listen to Canadians but how to separate the partisan rhetoric from the substantive suggestions will be almost impossible!


Next week Electoral Reform, advertising and debates.
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The House That Harper Built: Built to Last

A guest post by Pamela Mac Neil
The CONs aren't going anywhere. The absolute key to their staying power and their focus on winning again in 4 more years is their base. Anyone who thinks we've gotten Harper out, so we can sit back and relax is kidding themselves. The CON base does not consist of a group of people who are just political conservatives. It is a tightly knit, dogmatic, religious, entity who'se beliefs are for the most part outside of the Canadian mainsteam. Harper has successfully used faith as an opportunity politically to build a base that he saw working in the US. Canada's evangelicals are highly organized, well funded and much more likely to vote then other Canadians. In a speech to the Conservative think fest, Civitas, he outlined plans for a broad new party coalition that would ensure a lasting hold on power. He said that this can be done by bringing social conservatives of all faiths into the conservative party. What Harper called Theo-Cons. Mainly people of Christian faiths answered the call and of those Christians it was the Evangelical fundamental Christians who were in the majority. The same people who shared Harpers faith. They eventually became the majority of his base. Harpers own toned down Christian fundamentalism, is not some irrelevant belief system, but remains in present day, part of his political legacy. Harper has reshaped the Canadian Government, by the supporting of a covert Evangelical mission. Most importantly they were Harpers vehicle to implementing his Neoliberal agenda. With Harper as Prime Minister, the far right of Canadian conservatism achieved with the seizure of political power, the opportunity to now implement a Neoliberal policy agenda by first dismantling the modern welfare state. Harper and his CONs had developed one of the most extensive and manipulative political machines in Canadian history. They used micro-targeting of ethnic communities and other demographics, they did voter identification including to the poll level and they out fundraised the other parties by a 3.1 margin. Harper had a solid hold on his base and knew how to maintain it.

More then anything Harpers obvious end-game was not to just dismantle Canada's modern welfare state, but also its social democratic and liberal including small "l" liberal legacy and to make that Neoliberal transformation permanent. Harpers fascist, overt merging of corporatism and state power to the exclusion and ignorance of the Canadian majority is one of the wonders of his 9 yrs. in power and achieved mainly because of the complete silence of the MSM. Now that Harper has left, what are the Cons who survived the election and are now the official opposition going to do. Their number one focus will be pleasing their base. It is their base that has the power and it is their base that is in charge. Having had political power, their base will want to taste it again. The Cons know this. They have already started placating them. When Kenney said "We got the big things right, we just have to change the tone" the Canadian majority rolled their eyes and thought what a ridiculous thing to say. We voted them out because they didn't get the big things right! Who Kenney was really talking to though, when he said "We got the big things right" was to his base. He was assuring them. Even if he sounded ridiculous to the Canadian majority, it is only what his base thinks that matters. When the liberals found a deficit instead of the , surplus conservatives promised, Joe Olivers over the top "I'm shocked,shocked" response was for his base. The Canadian public would just put the remark down to a not very bright ex Minister of Finance in deep denial, but like Kenney he was assuring his base. He was saying, I am shocked that these liberals would go so far as to distort the truth by saying we had a deficit instead of the surplus we promised. The Cons cannot afford to have their base know that they were lied to by both Harper and Oliver about having a surplus. If their base were to start to disbelieve what their being told by the leaders of their party, then those same leaders would lose their bases trust, then it would be over, the CON party would be no more.

All political parties have a base. They come from , across Canada, young and old, from all walks of life, all ages, all beliefs, nationalities, and races. The political party base that Harper has built though is more like an antidemocratic cult following. Most of them share the same religious beliefs and most are capitalists politically in one form or another. Their values are from the religious right, such as family values, Law and Order and total support of Israel. They are against homosexuality, same sex marriage, abortion and environmentalism. It was predictable to Harper how his base would think on almost every issue, like a preacher, preaching to his flock, he knew just what to say, he knew how to placate them. Harpers beliefs were their beliefs, so he had no problem with them approving his policies. Harper did not seek out mainstream Canadians to join his conservative party and he excluded them from his governence. They were the real enemy! They were the ones who could stop his climb to power. They must be ignored, excluded, controlled and manipulated. Operating in secrecy was the best way to hold them in check and the MSM complete silence, assisted him in doing this. His bases votes were the votes that gave him the power he so desperately craved and these were the votes he could count on. He had created a living , breathing, predictable human voting machine, that he controlled and used to stay in power, like a laird managing his estate. In 2015 he campaigned only for his base. While they basked in being Harpers chosen people, mainstream Canada had had enough. They voted Harper out and gave Justin Trudeau, the son of the father Pierre Trudeau, the man who Harper had an ongoing irrational pathological hatred for, a majority of seats on which to form a government . My guess is that Harper did not see it coming! Operating in his self-made cacoon along with his base for 9yrs, he had always felt sure of them keeping him into power. He was not worried about mainstream Canadians, because in his mind they had been relegated to non-status, citizens who didn't care about voting. He is still a conservative MP, but that means nothing to him. Like an injured dog he has slunk off to hide and lick his wounds. The Conservatives are now the official opposition. Their base gave them 99 seats.

It is important to note that while the Canadian majority, despised Harper and much of his CON party, on a level playing field the electorate would have demolished the CON party, much like they did to Mulroney in 1993. The power of the CON base prevented that from happening. 99 seats is alot to give to a political party that was completely inept, including completely corrupt, the extent of which we are yet to find out. We will be able to count on the CONs spinning their B.S. to the Canadian public and the MSM still giving them a pass on everything, but what we must be is ever vigilant in making sure they never lead our government again. It's not anywhere near impossible for them to win another election. All that would be needed would be another low vote count from mainstream Canadians. It's that simple. In the mean time the Cons will be continually placating their base and pretending to care about the rest of Canada and pretending to be tough on the Liberals. What they are focused on though, right out of the starting gate, as the official opposition, is winning the next election and they know it is their base that is the key to their winning. Harper has gone, but the source of his power, his base, like cancer cells still intact after chemotherapy, still remain.

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Promises - Parliamentary Accountability

As promised in my post A cabinet that looks like Canada, this week I am going to take a closer look at the Liberal Government's quite modest promises as regards to parliamentary reform as listed in their platform document. Taking them one at a time they are (in shortened form):-


“Strengthen the role of parliamentary committee chairs, including elections by secret ballot. Ensure a more robust system of oversight and review for legislation.”

This one bothers me a little given that committee chairs already have considerable power over the way such meetings are conducted and can, as we have seen in recent years, use procedural actions to disrupt open discussion should they wish to. They need to be more open and accountable with rules established to ensure such partisan or personal biases cannot substantially effect discussions not more power over the process. I am not at all sure what “ a more robust system of oversight and review for legislation” means, reviewing proposed legislation is after all THE function of committees. Government House Leader Dominic Leblanc says House committees should be independent from government with non-partisan chairs and possibly no parliamentary secretary members. As with all things the devil is in the details, this one is a wait and see item.


“Liberal Caucus members will only be required to vote with the Cabinet on those matters that implement the Liberal electoral platform or traditional confidence matters.....”

Whilst more 'free' votes are highly desirable I am not sure that this actually promises that, in the short term at least most, if not all legislation could be said to “implement the Liberal electoral platform”. No MP should be “required to vote” in any particular manner, naturally those who disagree with their own party’s legislation and vote against it may face some kind of 'disciplinary' action from the party but telling an MP how to vote is wrong and antidemocratic. The ONLY vote that could result in a minority government falling should be one that specifically says “This house has no confidence in thus 'whipping' the vote would be unnecessary.....”


“Create a new, nonpartisan, merit-based, broad, and diverse process to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments.”

We do not know at this point what this “process” will be however given the restrictions placed upon the PM by the constitution, and if he truly wants to make the Senate the non partisan chamber of 'sober second thought' then taking advice, or even better, candidate recommendations from outside government is the only alternative. I have said before that given that Senators are meant to be representative of the province in which they reside that it seems appropriate that said provinces should be able to propose at least some of those candidates. Once again this is a wait and see what the 'process' involves but is far better than proposing reforms that involve opening up the constitution in a long and potentially divisive process..


“Work with all parties in the House of Commons to ensure an inclusive, representative, transparent, and accountable process to advise on appointments to the Supreme Court.”

It is my understanding that such a process was already in place, it is just that the previous PM chose to ignore such processes.


“Introduce a Prime Minister’s Question Period, empower the Speaker to challenge and sanction Members during Question Period.”

The PM is supposed to be one amongst equals, is having a special question period just for him reinforcing the perception that he and he alone is responsible for policy? I agree that the speaker should have more power to enforce members to behave and to answer actual questions put, not go off on some unrelated time passing distraction. Good luck with that.

“Change parliamentary financial processes, ensuring accounting consistency among the Estimates and the Public Accounts, providing costing analysis for each
government bill and restoring the requirement that the government’s borrowing plans
receive Parliament’s pre-approval.”

Duh!


“Ensure that all of the Officers of Parliament – the Chief Electoral Officer, the Access to Information Commissioner, the Auditor General, the Parliamentary Budget Officer etc, etc, are all properly funded and respected for doing their important work to help Canadians.”

We have seen during the last governments tenure that when you cant get rid of an officer whos reports you don’t like the next best thing is to cut their funding. We hope that they all do get sufficient funding restored to do their job effectively but must ask if there is a way to ensure that future governments cannot silence these officers by such methods.


“Not use prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances, change the House of Commons Standing Orders to end the practice of using omnibus bills to reduce scrutiny
prevent future governments from using this method to silence critical reports.'

Both of these promises are a very good start and we hope that they can indeed “prevent future governments (and their own) from using omnibus bills“ although how you 'lock in' such rules to prevent future governments from changing them back and what penalties can be put in place to prevent the rules being ignored is questionable. All the rules around prorogation, forming coalitions upon the defeat of a minority government, and similar constitutional matters need to be clarified, particularly if electoral reform takes place that results in a greater probability of more minority’s being elected.

The above is almost identical to the 'list' proposed by Ms May of the Greens as presented in the post Fixing What Harper Broke where she says “Ideally, a parliamentary committee will be mandated to review the abuses of the last ten years and recommend a full suite of measures to ensure it never happens again. “ There is the rub, any incoming government can seemingly come in and change the rules (or ignore them) as most are not enshrined in law, but for a few citizens invoking constitutional challenges it could have been much worse.
As we have seen in recent years the rules around prorogation, minority and coalition governments and even House proceedings are easily abused, and how and when such constitutional maneuverings can take place is far from clear and governed more by 'tradition' than any hard and fast rules or guidelines. Such things need to be formally documented to avoid future 'constitutional crises'. With the House setting its own rules this is not an easy task, we wish the new Liberal government well with these changes and await the recall of the House to see exactly how much the 'tone' and substance of the proceeding will change under what we hope and expect to be a more open and respectful leadership.




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As Predicted......

To judge by a report released Tuesday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the outgoing Harper government was unduly optimistic in its forecasts and estimates. (thats putting it 'nicely'!)
......that suggests that the Conservatives' heralded return to a budgetary surplus was in fact a mirage that could not have been achieved without the one-time sale of government-held shares in General Motors early in the first quarter.
For each of the next five years, the PBO projects fiscal deficits averaging $4.3 billion a year.
However, those deficits don't include the Trudeau government's spending plans. They are the deficits that would have occurred under the budgeting of former prime minister Stephen Harper, if his government had remained in office.
CBC Nov 11 2015


When the Liberals take power in the Fall I predict that they will find it is all smoke and mirrors, any 'surplus' will have been spent on shiny goodies and there will be a substantial deficit on the books.
'Rural' Nov 23 2014


With the above in mind lets take a closer look at what the Liberal Government intends to do about such 'slight of hand' when it comes to public accounting.


They have promised to make the Parliamentary Budget Officer truly independent, properly funded, and answerable only, and directly, to Parliament. Under the previous government he was an officer of the Library of Parliament and reported to the Speakers of both chambers. This would seem to indicate that he now would be a fully independent Officer of Parliament, we would hope that he would also be provided with the authority to make all departments provide him with the information necessary to make accurate and timely reports upon the current fiscal situation and proposed program spending. The Parliament of Canada Act states that, "the Parliamentary Budget Officer is entitled, by request made to the deputy head of a department... to free and timely access to any financial or economic data in the possession of the department that are required for the performance of his or her mandate." , however this did not stop various departments from withholding such information under the previous government. His reports can only be as good as the information that he receives, and as the previous PBO did (much to the vexation of those in power) his reports should be made publicly available by default.


There is also a promise to change parliamentary financial processes to ensure accounting consistency among the Estimates and the Public Accounts. My only comment upon that is why the hell would different departments use different accounting methods in the first place? Moving on, they say that they will provide costing analysis for each government bill and restore the requirement that the government’s borrowing plans receive Parliament’s pre-approval. I would bloody well hope so, asking MPs to vote upon proposed legislation without knowing the full impact of said bill upon the country’s finances is literally like “buying a pig in a poke”.


All these proposals are definitely a step in the right direction and we hope will be quickly instituted and we hope legislated into law to make it harder for this, or any future government to circumnavigate said rules. The question remains, as with all parliamentary 'rules' is what penalties will be introduced for those who refuse to follow said rules. As we have seen in the past there are no substantial consequences within parliament for such malfeasance other than at the ballot box every few years (if and when the public realize what is going on).




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Lost my Poppy

Remembrance Day.....

Lost my new poppy..was pinned on fast
Seems them soldiers have the last laugh
Reminding us,  they are still proud
Looking for "My Poppy"...their jokes allowed.

I pinned it firm over my heart
Taped it, bent it, not we to part
Low and behold...Poppies Gone...
Good name, for a Remembrance Song...!!

I feel bad if my Poppy not seen
This special memory, lost boyhood dreams
Gave their lives for us we know
But Poppies are sold...wherever we go.

So I purchase another..smile goes with
No my friend not really a twit
I accept the game,  old soldiers play
Re-pin "this one" proudly..."it's Remembrance Day."

Footnote:
I am sure poppies don't just fall from clothing, I feel they are letting us know
the gesture sure is appreciated by they that gave it their all on the fields of freedom battles.
So if you lose your Poppy...a soldier is saying "Thanks" for remembering them.
Purchase another....their price paid was greater than a few coins dropped in a box.
Wallyguy....Wiarton.

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A cabinet that looks like Canada, why .... “Because its 2015”

Given the large number of Liberal MPs elected that was one of the easier promises to keep but never the less a damn fine start. Now comes the more difficult stuff so let briefly review the platform promises in regard to our democratic institutions and how “Fair and Open” this government intends to be. We all know we have heard similar phrases before and the outcome was nothing like the promise! With this in mind over the next few weeks I will take a closer look at some of the promises and some of the difficulties that may arise in keeping them, but in the meanwhile here is a quickie primer on those promises.


Restoring a sense of trust in our democracy and greater openness and transparency.
Amending the Access to Information Act so that all government data and information is made open by default in machine-readable, digital formats.
Accelerating and expanding open data initiatives and continually look for additional opportunities to do so.
Creating a central, no-fee portal for personal information requests.
Create a common, quarterly, and more detailed parliamentary expense report, make the Board of Internal Economy open by default.


Restoring democracy and accountability to Parliament.
Strengthen the role of parliamentary committee chairs, including elections by secret ballot. Ensure a more robust system of oversight and review for legislation.
Liberal Caucus members will only be required to vote with the Cabinet on those matters that implement the Liberal electoral platform or traditional confidence matters such as the Speech from the Throne and significant budgetary measures.
Create a new, nonpartisan, merit-based, broad, and diverse process to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments.
Work with all parties in the House of Commons to ensure an inclusive, representative, transparent, and accountable process to advise on appointments to the Supreme Court.
Introduce a Prime Minister’s Question Period, empower the Speaker to challenge and sanction Members during Question Period.
Change parliamentary financial processes, ensuring accounting consistency among
the Estimates and the Public Accounts, providing costing analysis for each
government bill and restoring the requirement that the government’s borrowing plans
receive Parliament’s pre-approval.
Ensure that all of the Officers of Parliament – the Chief Electoral Officer, the Access to Information Commissioner, the Auditor General, the Parliamentary Budget Officer etc, etc, are all properly funded and respected for doing their important work to help Canadians.
Not use prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances, change the House of Commons Standing Orders to end the practice of using omnibus bills to reduce scrutiny of legislative measures.


Electoral Reform, advertising and debates.
Form an all-party parliamentary committee to bring recommendations to Parliament on the way forward, to allow for action before the succeeding federal election. Ensure that electoral reform measures – such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting – are fully and fairly studied and considered. Within 18 months bring forward legislation to enact electoral reform
Repeal the anti-democratic elements in the Fair Elections Act and scrap the Citizen Voting Act, restore the voter identification card as an acceptable form of identification.
Provide Elections Canada with the resources it needs to investigate matters that threaten the integrity of our electoral process. Ensure that the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Canada have the tools and mandate to encourage more Canadians to vote. Restore the independence of the Commissioner of Canada Elections so that they are freely able to prosecute electoral violations.
Appoint an Advertising Commissioner to assist the Auditor General in providing oversight on government advertising. Proposed messages will be reviewed by the Advertising Commissioner to ensure they are non-partisan and related to actual government requirements.
Review electoral spending limits, and also ensure that political party spending between elections is subject to limits.
Create a more inclusive, independent commission that will organize leaders’ debates during election campaigns, with a mandate to increase Canadians engagement and knowledge of the issues.
Work with provinces and territories, and support Elections Canada, to register young Canadians as a part of their high school curriculum. Support voter registration as part of a civic ceremony in high schools, support Elections Canada in proactively registering Canadians from groups that historically have lower voter turnout.


Evidence-based decision-making.
Allow government scientists to speak freely about their work, with only limited and publicly stated exceptions. Consolidate government science so that it is easily available to the public at-large through a central portal. Gag was removed Friday
Make Statistics Canada fully independent with a mandate to collect data needed by the private sector, other orders of government etc, etc. Strengthened Statistics Canada to make available more detailed labour market information, child development data,
and statistics on natural capital.
Immediately restore the mandatory long-form census. This was done within 24 hours of being sworn in, details to follow!


Better Service for Canadians.
Introduce a significant overhaul of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) operating practices to proactively contact Canadians when they are entitled to, but are not, receiving tax benefits; offering to create returns for clients, particularly lower income Canadians.
Combat international tax evasion; and ending the CRA political harassment of charities, as well as clarifying rules to affirm the important role that charities play in developing and advocating for public policy in Canada.
Create a Prime Minister’s Youth Advisory Council, consisting of young Canadians aged 16-24, to provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister on issues the country
is facing
Create a single window for all government services, and work with the provinces and territories on ways to combine online access efforts. Create individualized, secure accounts for Canadians who want to access all of their government benefits and other services.
Mobilize the experience and knowledge of Canadians using evolving technologies and incorporate their input into our decisions.


Security and oversight.
Create an all-party national security oversight committee to monitor and oversee the operations of every government department and agency with national security responsibilities.

The above is a very shortened summary of the Liberal document “A Fair and Open Government” which see for more details. 
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Election Revisited

The election has now taken place and for many of us the results may override any concerns that we had with the process however make no mistake this election process was far from flawless. If we are to believe the folks who reported problems at Pollwatch there were polls that failed to open on time or ran out of ballots, poll staff who did not understand or follow the rules regarding identification, numerous errors on voter identification cards regarding poll locations (only some of which EC caught before the election), failure to update voter lists for those who took the time to pre-regester etc etc.


All these things are unacceptable and appear to be centred upon two things, errors and missing information in ECs database, and inadequate training (or understanding of it) and unreliability of temporary poll staff. I presume that EC will be investigating these failures and seeking solutions but don’t KNOW that they will be doing so as I have seen no post election acknowledgement of these issues. I will therefor try and speak to some of these things, point out why I think some of the issues arised and suggest some possible solutions. I will be considering forwarding some of these observations and ideas to Elections Canada via their feedback contact page at https://secure.elections.ca/FeedbackQuestion.aspx?lang=e. If you had problems voting or were unable to vote for one reason or another I would suggest you document the exact details of you experience and submit it directly to EC via this means. The twitter pollwatch feed certainly indicates some of the problems but to fix them EC will require more detailed information and by submitting it directly it is more likely to be looked into.

A number of voters who had moved or found out they were not registered and called in or registered on line found out that that were still not on the list on voting day. This is obviously a problem with the database entry regime, there is some evidence that if your name and birthdate exists elsewhere in the database one or the other will be considered a duplicate and be deleted, a small error in data entry when transcribing from a written address change form or list (which all have inadequate space for fire#s and longer addresses), perhaps aggravated by poor writing, will result in your not showing up where you should on the list. Some poll staff are known to have not entered the FULL address on address change lists on polling day so next time........!

A better way of correcting addresses at EC offices, advanced and regular polls would IMHO be to have voters fill in (print please) a card with said information prior to approaching the poll clerks, the clerk could then check said address against their ID and drop card into an “address change” box to be sent on the EC for database updates. Saves time and reduces the chance of errors.

Part of the problem with folks not being registered or going to the wrong poll station must be blamed upon the search function on the EC website as regards finding IF you are registered and finding what poll station to vote at. Given that poll areas cross the boundary lines of postal code areas and to identify voters exact data is needed we understand that accurate address information is needed but trying to get the web site to accept such is damn near impossible, particularly for rural areas where 'streets' are not named.
When searching for where to vote after entering your postal code you are presented with this......

I live at '123456' 'Side Road 9', Township of 'abcd'
I entered this information 6 or 8 different ways in the above form and never did get told where to vote, not only did it reject my entry’s but then deleted my previous attempt and failed to tell me what bit it did not like. I later found out that apparently I live on '9' 'siderd' and my neighbours who live on 'concession 6' live on '6' 'concession' , I note that the address on voter info cards is likewise printed arse backwards. Very confusing for rural residents who's official (per municipal paperwork, drivers licence etc) is the former not the latter. What “Number suffix” means I have no clue!
A simple fix for this would be to be more precise as to what the data entry field requires i.e 'House number or Firecode', 'Street name or Road Number' etc. Also I note that when searching to find if you are registered you will be presented with a pull down list of possible streets / roads in your area whilst when searching for poll location you are not. Why not? Some folks postal address is different from their municipal address, even going to a box number in different municipality and even different postal code area this does not seem to be accounted for in distributing voter information cards or database information.


Now we turn to staff errors and polls failing to open, these are obviously mostly a failure of temporary staff failing to understand or absorb the 4 hours of training that they were suppose to receive and failing to review the quite precise and detailed training manual they received. Given that most of these folks are hired for one 14 to 16 hour day (plus 4 hours training) on a one time basis it is hardly surprising that such issues arise and it is difficult to ensure that reliable individuals are hired, particularly in that even the trainers and EC district are mostly temporary staff hire for a few days or weeks. Perhaps poll staff should go through a 'mock' voting routine during training rather than just watch a film and briefly review the book? Some folks had to fight to vote even with proper ID and were asked for secondary ID even after presenting their drivers licence, we have no count of those who were denied the right to vote as such things are not counted, when turned away for whatever reason it should be documented by staff and the voter encouraged to fill in a 'complaints form'. How else can EC know there is a problem?


In a letter to the Editor thanking the more than 200,000 election workers Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada said “There will be time in the coming weeks and months to review our electoral procedures and consider ways they could be modernized for future elections. For now, our dedicated election workers should take great pride in their accomplishments and important contributions to our society.” We should indeed thank these folks for they worked a long day with no breaks and without them the election could not take place.


Here's a though, why not combine the federal and provincial systems and full time staff so that all elections in Canada are run by the same entity, using the same system, the same databases and wherever possible the same individuals who previously worked the polls. Why not encourage and enable both poll staff and exiting voters to document any problems they encountered by placing forms (indicating poll # so they are traceable) and THE 'complaints box' (yes there is one) in an obvious and clearly marked location at the exit door and actually asking staff to use them. Why not devise a system that allows voter to vote at ANY poll withing their district (as they do at district offices by special poll), they are after all all voting for the same group of candidates. This may involve the use of interconnected computers , =gasp= , not necessarily to vote but to track who has voted.


There seem to be two main needs, to see if the individual is entitled to vote - 18 and Canadian citizen (is this ever checked, how about every body get a permanent citizenship/ photo id / voter card?) and have they voted before. Perhaps we need to get them to dip their thumb in indelible ink, it would work better than the current system!
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