NDP to filibuster voter photo ID bill
The NDP vows to filibuster legislation that would require voter photo ID for the first time in Canadian federal electoral history and the handing over vital personal information about voters to political parties and election candidates.Ottawa New Democrat MP Paul Dewar on Tuesday described the legislation as "a big brother bill" that risks widespread identity theft if voter lists with the birth dates of electors gets in the wrong hands.
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They said the legislation also threatens to prevent thousands of homeless people and the poor from voting because they don't have personal ID.
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The legislation would require Elections Canada to assign a lifetime identifying number for each of the more than 22 million electors and put their birth dates on the permanent list of electors, which would be updated annually and made available to the political parties and candidates in each voting district.The bill specifically allows the parties to use the information for fundraising and soliciting electoral support.
And a political party's right to raise funds trumps an individual's right to privacy. Isn't that obvious?
So where are the Liberals who are so eager to accuse the NDP of propping up Harper's government?
Liberal whip Karen Redman dismissed concern about identity theft, saying Quebec, which allows the distribution of birth dates to political parties and candidates, has not experienced major problems
I don't recall hearing about a severe epidemic of voter fraud either, but it hasn't stopped all the other parties from supporting this. They're fixing something that isn't broken. In the process they risk disenfranchising a portion of the population and exposing a bigger portion to a needless risk. And that last is despite the fact that the privacy commissioner, who I believe was appointed by the Liberals, has warned against this.
Hat-tip to The Jurist who has it right.
Given that date of birth is used fairly frequently (at least from my experience [and mine, too - pogge]) as a check in verifying a person's identity, it would seem obvious that giving out such information to political parties could leave voters far more vulnerable to identity theft than they would be otherwise. But apparently the other parties are perfectly happy to impose that risk on Canadian citizens generally if the tradeoff is more information for them to use in targeting their messages.
Do I have to add that I condemn Canada's Silly Government™ from even going down this road? I didn't mention it earlier because I don't expect anything better from them.
Now I am really confused - the vile socialists, those believers in BIG GOVERNMENT are opposing government intrusion into our lives - from a party who has deep in their heart of hearts and their soul of souls has the idea that 'less government is best government'.
I wonder what our good friend Honourable Ed Stelmach will have to say about this?
And of course we all would have to pay to get our picture taken for this extra piece of plastic which would have to be updated ever 3 to 5 years like a passport. Say oh, $75 the first time. They think voter turnout is bad now.
Or it could be rolled into our new Security & Prosperity ID with the US and Mexico. That would kill two birds with one stone. But would we pay for it in $C, or $US or Pesos or Ameros?
And oh boy...I can hardly wait to be targeted by assorted as by the various parties...they do such a good job of it already...not!
You only have to pay in US$ if you're voting conservative. :-)
There is a problem with voting, after last election a CFRB News call in show had about a half dozen people call in to say they had either voted 2 or three times and/or voted in a riding they didn't live. These were people who called in in response to an amercian student at Ryerson who was allowed to vote on just his student card, and he wasn't even a citizen. He had reportedly done it just to see if he could, and spoiled his ballot. He reported himself when he realized how easy it was to tamper with Canadian elections, in the hope that we would take more care in protecting or elections, the defining characteristic of democracy. He got into some serious trouble with the cops for voting when he shouldn't have, and when he said it had no impact because he spoiled his ballot he got in more trouble. Defacing a ballot in a federal election is actually a crime, and punishable by a $5000 fine. I'm not sure how it all worked out.
Anyway, the Conservatives are chasing mosquitos with muskets again on this issue. There solution is wrong for all the above mentioned reasons in the origional post. However - we need to do more to prevent electoral fraud, before it gets out of hand, because if we wait till after, it will never get done.
this is a good site. good article.
Here's an idea: First, reinstate the old "whole of election day is a holiday" thing so people have nowhere too much they need to be going.
Then, for anyone who wants to vote but has relatively inadequate ID/registration, go through whatever the current procedures are but then after they vote they have to stick around until the polls close. Then they can't nohow vote more than once.
Lay on a bit of coffee, tea and snacks. Warm place to stay for a few hours, bite to eat, maybe we'll finally get out the homeless vote into the bargain.
Almost goes without saying that I'm very pleased to see the NDP fighting for principle and that this bill they're filibustering seems like a vile intrusion.
What if everybody refused to get this new form of government control and nobody could vote in the next general election??