Sparks flew in a parliamentary committee on Thursday as MPs questioned Canada’s Democratic Institutions Minister about a widely opposed provision of the Electoral Reform Act that would require the next fixed election date to be delayed by a week.
Testifying on Bill C-65, the Electoral Participation Act, Dominique Leblanc, Minister of Public Safety and Democratic Institutions, faced focused questioning about the government’s proposal to change the next fixed election date from October 20, 2025 to October 27, 2025. faced. 2025.
The Liberals said the one-off Canada Elections Act was to avoid conflicts with fall holidays, including Diwali, and Alberta’s municipal elections.
However, delaying the vote by even one day would have the ripple effect of securing pensions for the 80 members first elected in 2019. If he loses his seat before his six-year term ends on October 1, he will not be eligible for pension benefits. 21st, 2025.
All opposition parties have expressed opposition to this change, and today Mr. LeBlanc said he would be “happy to respect the will of this committee” if the set date remains as is. It seems unlikely that this will be incorporated into the final version of the bill.
That didn’t stop opposition politicians from challenging LeBlanc about the change.
During the hearing, Conservative MPs said the real motive behind the proposal was to protect the pensions of 22 Liberal MPs and six NDP MPs, but the majority of MPs would have their pensions at risk. 32 members of the Conservative Party, suggested Conservative MPs.
“Whose idea was it to line the pockets? Was it your idea or the NDP leader’s idea?” Conservative MP Michael Cooper told the Commons Business and Commons Affairs Committee on Thursday. I asked the question at the meeting.
Mr LeBlanc responded by congratulating Mr Cooper for asking the question, which could be used in a social media clip, and saying the Conservatives had shown “ultimate arrogance” by suggesting there was no risk of losing any MPs. I accused him of being there.
In many ways, the bill was co-authored with the NDP and tied to the now-expired two-party supply and confidence agreement, but Mr. Singh lost his seat in the 2019 federal by-election months before the general election. The timing of the bill’s introduction was not important as it had been secured. Securing a pension is not the same.
During the hearing, Conservatives also questioned LeBlanc about talks he had with New Democratic Party leaders before introducing the bill.
“We have just received information that a secret meeting was in fact taking place minutes before this meeting began… We have reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office, your office staff, and Canada for information and clarification. There were representatives from NDP headquarters who met with the election board. The behind-the-scenes details will only come out later,” Conservative MP Eric Duncan told LeBlanc.
LeBlanc responded by calling Duncan a “very experienced detective” who accused him of revealing the contents of a “regular meeting of senior officials.”
“You’d think it would be shocking to see MPs working together. We think it’s a very positive thing for Canadians,” LeBlanc said.
The Bloc Québécois also challenged LeBlanc over the bill’s fixed election date change clause and the potential for conflicts with other dates if the federal vote was pushed back a week.
The Bloc Quebecois has 19 MPs – more than half of the party’s caucus – who could stand to secure their pensions if the election is later than currently planned.
But Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet recently said he was ready to help Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre topple Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government and push for early elections, and LeBlanc He made this point in a response to Bloc MP Marilyn Gill.
“I know you want elections soon… but regardless of the date we choose… there will be tensions,” Leblanc said in French. “We’re doing the best we can, and the good news is that voters are very resilient.”
NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron confirmed Thursday that once the committee completes hearing from witnesses, it plans to propose an amendment to rescind the proposed date change during a clause-by-clause review.
Referring to the purpose of Thursday’s hearing, Barron said she expected the disagreements over so-called pension protections, which she called “unintended benefits,” to be “resolved.”
Liberal MP Shelley Romanado told colleagues she was “ready to support” any amendments brought forward to maintain the current election date.
“We have focused on the date, but there are many other things that are important,” Lomado said.
The bill, introduced in March, also proposes a series of election law reforms aimed at making it easier for Canadians to vote and harder for bad actors to interfere.
Government House of Commons Leader Karina Gould recently said: Motion by Notice It aims to speed up committee work and subsequent parliamentary scrutiny if the current privileged filibuster, which slows down work in the House, ends.
