On corrective action

While Bill C-31 was improved significantly by the Senate's refusal to jeopardize Canadians' privacy for the convenience of political parties, it still left plenty to be desired in the area of voter access to the polls. But the Globe and Mail reports that a Charter challenge could well undo the damage in that department as well:

Mr. Wright plans to be a witness in a constitutional challenge by B.C. lawyer Jim Quail, who argues that the measures intended to stop voter fraud will instead disenfranchise the poor and transient.

"You've got whole categories of people who don't have identification with an address - they don't drive vehicles, they don't have passports, they've just moved, they just got robbed," said Mr. Quail, a staff lawyer at the non-profit B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

"You get turned away - and you've just lost your right to vote."...

A spokesman for Elections Canada said he couldn't comment on the debate around the law. But in testimony before the Commons standing committee on procedure and House affairs in December, former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley said about 3.3 million people - 15 per cent of Canada's population - don't have driver's licences, and many don't have a current address on the card.

Canadian passports do not show addresses, nor does the citizenship card, he said. In fact, there are only five pieces of federal government ID that have a name and address - the federal fishing licence, certain Quebec trades cards and cards issued by Quebec's Centre local de services communautaires, certain hospital cards, and the card issued by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind - none of which show citizenship, he said.

"Some groups of electors are much less likely to have a driver's licence - in other words, they are targeted by this absence," said Mr. Kingsley, adding that this includes homeless, disadvantaged, seniors and youth.

The law is expected to change voting dynamics where there are many transients, such as ridings with a lot of university students, as in Mr. Owen's riding, and poorer neighbourhoods such as Vancouver's urban slum, the Downtown Eastside.

Because a vote of no-confidence could easily topple Canada's minority government, Mr. Quail said he will file his challenge, under Section 3 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as soon as he can. He has already prepared affidavits, lined up witnesses such as Mr. Wright and has begun to draft his challenge.

"We want to be in a position to move pretty quickly so we can get [the new law] struck down before the next election happens," he said.

While I'm ordinarily fairly pessimistic about the chances of constitutional challenges, this looks to be a relatively solid case. Under the provisions of C-31, Canadians could plainly be prevented from exercising their right to vote based on matters beyond their reasonable control. Indeed, the main question in Quail's challenge in particular may be whether a court would wait for actual damage from an election before addressing Quail's argument, or look at striking the law down ahead of time to prevent an anticipated breach of Charter rights.

Of course, it would be for the best if a court challenge wasn't needed to put such arbitrary restrictions under the microscope. But there figures to be at least some chance to avoid the needless exclusion of voters from the next federal election - and Quail deserves credit for helping to make sure the issue gets dealt with.