Re: PM Harper blasts Elections Canada - NO BURQA VOTING!

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Posted by CTV on 15:54:02 2007/09/09

In Reply to: Re: Politicians & citizens opposed - Who is pushing this garbage? posted by National Post

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(CP / Tom Hanson) PM blasts Elections Canada ruling on veiled voting Updated Sun. Sep. 9 2007 2:45 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted Elections Canada Sunday for going against a parliamentary ruling by allowing Muslim women to wear veils and burkas while voting. The move goes directly against a unanimous vote in the House of Commons this past spring to make visual identification mandatory when casting a ballot. "I profoundly disagree with the decision," Harper told reporters in Sydney, Australia where he is attending the APEC conference. "We just adopted this past sitting, in the spring, Bill C-31, a law designed to have the visual identification of voters. That's the purpose of the law. "That was the law voted virtually unanimously by Parliament and I think that this decision goes in an entirely different direction," he continued. The Elections Canada ruling was prompted by three upcoming byelections in Quebec on Sept. 17. The arms-length elections agency has scheduled a news conference on Monday to discuss their decision. On their website , Elections Canada reiterated their policies on wearing religious face coverings while voting. It states that if an elector produces an original government-issued photo identification that contains her name and home address then she has the following options: She may choose to unveil to identify herself She may produce a second original piece of identification from Chief Electoral Officer of Canada's authorized list of identification She may come with another elector who is registered in the same polling division and who can provide adequate proof of their own identification to vouch for her identity. They would both need to make a sworn statement under oath. Harper said Parliament will have to find a way to make sure the House's ruling takes effect. "The role of Elections Canada is not to make its own laws, it's to put into place the laws that Parliament has passed," he said. Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion agreed with Harper when speaking with reporters in Vancouver on Sunday. "We disagree with the Elections Canada decision and we ask them to revisit their decision," he said. "At the end of the day, you must be able to identify yourself when you vote." Speaking on CTV's Question Period Sunday morning, a panel of political strategists agreed a compromise has to be made on the issue. Liberal strategist Don Moors pointed out Dion's recommendation to place female Elections Canada Officers in voting booths to identify Muslim female voters. NDP President Anne McGrath said Elections Canada is an agency that "knows what it is doing." "Elections Canada goes around the world helping other countries with their elections," she said. "I think the officials at Elections Canada know how to make sure that the voting is accurate." The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations in Montreal said the ruling will only affect a very small number of Muslim women. "We're talking about a minority of a minority of a minority,'' spokeswoman Sarah Elgazzar told the Canadian Press. "It's a very small section of the practising Muslim women, which is already a small enough section of the Muslim community that actually wear the niqab ." With files from The Canadian Press Please Add Comments(6) The one reading over your shoulder I think this line says the most about all Canadian bureaucrats. "The role of Elections Canada is not to make its own laws, it's to put into place the laws that Parliament has passed..." Riley W Good for Harper taking a stand! It doesn't matter if you have 2 forms of I.D., if you can't see the face it doesn't matter anyways. I am not willing to give them special privileges by letting them take off the burka in front of female Elections Canada workers. If Elections Canada doesn't reverse this they will have a big problem on their hands on election day with thousands wearing masks in protest. I can say I will be wearing a mask if this happens in the next federal election. D.D. Again with the political correctness, wouldn't want to offend anybody. RJT We're literally talking about a few hundred women here, let them identify themselves to Elections Canada, I'm okay with that, its called compassion and understanding. Mark What a good idea on the part of Elections Canada!!! In this day and age, let's violate the decision of Parliament (you know, the place where democracy lives?) and let some bunch of bureaucrats make a decision whereby an individual, cloaked in the secrecy of a religion, can deny proof of a: citizenship, b: identity, c: rule of law. What a great idea. Bully for Mr. Harper. This idiotic bungling is an example of all the rot that has seeped into this country's (once fine) core. V. Joe What kind of nonsense is this?! Until we use bio-metrics for identification (fingerprints, voice identification, retinal scans, etc.) everyone should show THEIR FACE to vote! Any religious issues can easily be resolved by providing strict Muslim women with a private area run by an all-female eletoral staff. 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Re: PM Harper blasts Elections Canada - NO BURQA VOTING! - Shelley 23:49:50 2007/09/09 (0)

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