Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very glad to see this here. I have found in the two elections that I have been involved in that it has been extremely confusing. It used to talk about broadcasting. This is now talking about advertising and all kinds of election advertising, so it’s going to make it much simpler. It will be clear that you don’t do anything in terms of your election on the voting day and the day prior. I’m very glad to see this amendment coming forward.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question to this is the amendment to this advertising on the day of polling, I guess, does that mean current advertising that has been in place has to be removed or is the addition of advertising and polling the day prior to or the day of?
We’re just speaking to the motion here, Mr. Bouchard. Does anyone from the committee wish to offer to the motion? Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this, as Ms. Bisaro identified, clarifies the terminology under election advertising and tries to level the playing field. There are some forms of advertising that are active and can be deactivated, others that are print form that can’t, and so it clarifies under election advertising which of those categories it falls into.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to admit, I don’t recall the exact detailed discussion when we had it in committee, but one of the problems we had was recognizing advertisement in general. For example, it’s easy to say don’t advertise in print on that day, and that makes sense to people, or for example, don’t advertise on television, which in the Northwest Territories tends to be fortunate in that area. It’s too expensive and these are small campaigns so you don’t tend to see a lot of it, and that’s what I mean by fortunate.
On the radio now, we’re getting into means and mediums that people can afford and tend to advertise in, and I think that it’s things like that that make a lot of sense to people. However, now we’re engaged in social media and now it gets a little tricky, and so the challenge, of course, is how to balance this off. I think the intent here is – I do remember a fulsome discussion about it – if someone tweets a message advertising for a particular campaign and they are promoting them, if I recall, they may be in violation of it. So it’s a bit of a quirk on this particular case. Do you have to deactivate your Facebook account? I think there are a lot of details still to be worked out. I would not think that this is probably enough information at this particular time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Again, speaking to the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the definition of elections advertising in Section 237 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act be clarified as proposed by the Chief Electoral Officer on page 13 of his auxiliary report. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Chair, I move that the term “campaign material” be replaced by “election advertising” throughout the Elections and Plebiscites Act for greater clarity and certainty. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Section 152 to 162 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act be repealed as well as all other references to “an advanced poll”; and further, that the Chief Electoral Officer provide the Assembly with detailed recommendations to establish a new special voting opportunity for communities without a resident returning officer, similar to voting in the office of the returning officer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Chair, I move that campaign financing provisions of the Elections and Plebiscites Act be drafted in plain language with a view to improving a logical consistency. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Chairman, I move that the current limit of $100 remain for each anonymous donation, but that each candidate be limited to a total of $1,500 in their anonymous contributions to his or her campaign. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Chair, I move that the types of expenditures that may be incurred by a candidate, rather than an official agent, be expanded to allow minor, practical expenditures. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wonder if the chair of the committee or a member of the committee or the mover of the motion could give an example of what kind of expenditures are being talked about here. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We will go to the chair of the Rules committee for clarification. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks for that question. It’s not unusual. In fact, it’s probably more common than not that candidates have some expenses that they incur before there is an official representative, so that the financial aspects remain at arm’s length. Perhaps ordering signs for a remote community or something to ensure that they are there in time, whatever it might be. Usually they are fairly modest. This is to legitimize those expenditures and make it clear that those are legitimate for the actual candidate to be doing spending early on, perhaps even before everything has been formalized.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Committee, just to be clear, we should be speaking to the motion. This process is not a process of asking questions, only in extreme cases. I have already allowed three today. Just keep that in mind here, committee. To the motion. I will go back to Ms. Bisaro. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m done, but it just helps if we have a bit of an explanation of the motion before we know what we are voting on. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Chair, I move that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to require candidates to include statements from accredited financial institutions for campaign accounts in their financial reports to Elections NWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Hawkins.
