Stop the Attack on Democracy!
Demand C-23 be Withdrawn Now!
The Communist Party of Canada joins with other federally-registered political parties, labour and community organizations, and hundreds of Canadian and international constitutional experts and scholars in condemning the anti-democratic character of the so-called Fair Elections Act (C-23) and demanding its immediate withdrawal. We urge all democratically-minded Canadians, unions and people’s organizations to act now to defeat this legislation.
The most odious measures under the proposed Act would further erode the integrity of the federal electoral process by:
- Eliminating vouching and the use of Voter Information Cards (VIC) during elections, effectively disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters, especially Aboriginal peoples, youth and students, seniors and rural voters;
- Removing the investigative capacity of Elections Canada to monitor and prevent election fraud, placing it instead under the authority of the Director of Public Prosecutions, a Cabinet appointee who is in turn answerable to Cabinet and the PMO, not to Parliament itself;
- Forbidding Elections Canada from promoting democratic participation through “get out the vote” campaigns, and essentially placing a ‘gag order’ on its leading official, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada; and
- Removing ‘fundraising’ from expenses monitored under election campaign spending limits, an extremely partisan move which would benefit only the largest parties, and especially the Conservatives;
Coming on top of the recent experience of the last federal election in 2011, when the Tories were responsible for a number of serious violations of the Canada Elections Act, most importantly the notorious “robo-call” [or ‘voter suppression’] scandal, the misnamed “Fair Elections Act” will disenfranchise even more voters, weaken the already lax enforcement of election rules, and unfairly benefit the large, established Big Business parties – and especially the Conservative Party itself. This will only add to already widespread public scepticism about the utility and ‘fairness’ of the existing electoral process, at a time when voter participation rates continue to tumble.
It is hypocritical in the extreme that the Harper government, with its unbridled penchant for arrogantly lecturing other countries and peoples about the sanctity of “democracy”, should dare to introduce such a patently undemocratic and self-serving piece of legislation.
The attempt of the Harper government to rush this deeply flawed Bill through Committee and Parliament without even consulting with Elections Canada officials or organizing any public hearing process exposes once again its deep-seated disdain for democratic principles and practices.
If the Conservatives had any real commitment to improving the current electoral system, they would open broad public discussion around genuine reforms to enhance democratic participation in the country, including consideration of proportional (or mixed proportional) representation in Parliament, further restrictions on campaign spending, a return to full voter enumeration before every election, greater and more equitable access to media for all political parties, not just the large, entrenched parties, and other reforms.
The Communist Party demands that Parliament reject C-23, and instead open a wide, open and transparent discussion across the country on genuine electoral reform, including the convocation of public hearings and citizen meetings in both large and smaller urban centres, as well as rural areas.
The Harper Tories seem convinced that they can force the bill through ‘come or high water’, as a set-up for a Tory victory in the 2015 general election. This is how elections are stolen. But we are quite convinced that this dangerous attack on Canada’s electoral system can and must be stopped through mass political action. The Harper Tories must be forced to retreat! Our Party is committed to work with other all other political forces, labour and mass democratic organizations to defeat C-23!
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The Communist Party of Canada (CPC) has a long and distinguished history of fighting for democratic reform in this country. The CPC was the first political party in Canada to call for the introduction of proportional representation, for the citizens’ right to recall elected officials, and for the full political equality and rights of Aboriginal peoples. After a 10-year political and legal battle, our Party won a unanimous ruling at the Supreme Court of Canada [Figueroa v. Attorney-General of Canada; 2003] declaring unconstitutional several sections of the Canada Elections Act which discriminated against smaller political parties. A summary of that case is available here and the full SCC ruling can be accessed at http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2069/index.do.