Elections Canada should start overseeing party nominations, some politicians say

Canada's chief electoral of‐ ficer is planning talks this fall with federal parties to discuss riding nomination races — which may have been targeted for manipu‐ lation on at least one occa‐ sion by Beijing.

In his first report on for‐ eign interference, former gov‐ ernor general David Johnston found "well-grounded suspi‐ cion" that the Consulate-Gen‐ eral of the People's Republic of China in Toronto was be‐ hind irregularities with Han Dong's 2019 federal Liberal nomination victory.

Dong had no knowledge of the irregularities, according to the report.

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault may follow those talks with recommen‐ dations to amend the Canada Elections Act, the non-parti‐ san agency said.

While the final decision on amending laws rests with Par‐ liament, current and former politicians say Elections Cana‐ da should provide more over‐ sight over riding nominations, which have developed a free‐ wheeling reputation.

"It would be important in the context of recent allega‐ tions of foreign meddling that there be additional measures in place," said Green Party Deputy Leader Jonathan Ped‐ neault.

"We would love to see Elections Canada play a larger role."

Having the independent elections agency oversee vet‐ ting would lead to much more "credibility," said Pedneault.

Elections Canada monitors candidate spending but the agency's current role in nomi‐ nations is limited and political parties have almost complete control over how the races are run.

Sometimes, lax rules can leave the races open to ex‐ ploitation, including from for‐ eign actors looking to back candidates sympathetic to their causes.

Other times, parties may appoint candidates, or hold contests where they rally members to support a specif‐ ic candidate.

Would more oversight make contests 'cleaner'?

Controversy often flares in nomination races. The most recent example erupted in the southwestern Ontario rid‐ ing of Oxford during the Con‐ servative nomination race for the upcoming June 19 byelec‐ tion.

One of the candidates, Woodstock city-county Coun. Deb Tait, accused the party of favouring her rival Arpan Khanna, who won the nomi‐ nation.

Tait is the daughter of for‐ mer Conservative MP Dave MacKenzie, who is now back‐ ing David Hilderley, the Liberal candidate in Oxford.

"The nomination process was fair and in accordance with our rules," said Sarah Fis‐ cher, director of communica‐ tions for the Conservative Party of Canada, in a state‐ ment to CBC News.

"Mr. Khanna is our candi‐ date because he won the sup‐ port of the membership by a large margin."

Tait alleges she didn't re‐ ceive the membership list in a timely fashion and suggests the party didn't thoroughly check voter identification.

"I was concerned right from the get-go that the whole thing had been fixed," Tait said.

Tait is calling for Elections Canada to step in and provide more oversight to make sure what she experienced doesn't happen again.

"It makes it cleaner," she said. "What has gone on here should not go on in any other riding."

Tait said she supports par‐ ties appointing candi‐ dates but doesn't think they should be allowed control over the nomination race rules because it creates an opening to give an advantage to a specific candidate.

No 'hard and fast rule' Sheila Copps, a former long-time Liberal MP and deputy prime minister, also said she believes Elections Canada needs a role in nomi‐ nation races. Copps tried to appeal a nomination contest she lost in 2004, alleging the party favoured her opponent.

Copps said she was ad‐ vised by her lawyer that if she pursued her challenge, she would have to sign a nondis‐ closure agreement and pay all lawyers' fees if she was de‐ feated.

"It hurt," Copps said. "I was always in the party and it was really close to me."

Copps said Elections Cana‐ da should run nomination ap‐ peals, instead of internal par‐ ty processes.

"It's going to allow another level of scrutiny and another level of equilibrium," she said.

Others are concerned about Elections Canada tak‐ ing control away from parties, which are treated traditionally as private groups.

"I, personally, get a little uncomfortable with the idea of the state reaching into civil society and helping organize and regulate it," said Cristine de Clercy, an associate profes‐ sor of political science at Western University in Lon‐ don, Ont.

De Clercy, the incoming Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership at Trent University, said citizens can judge a party based on the quality of its own internal democracy.

She said parties have an incentive to show that they can run fair, consistent, trans‐ parent and democratic nomi‐ nations.

If they don't, she said, for‐ mal elections and the media can provide checks on the parties.

"It isn't a hard and fast rule that parties have to act de‐ mocratically in their nomina‐ tion processes in order to field eligible candidates," de Clercy said.

"It's just [that] we expect as citizens, it just seems nor‐ mal and logistical to us that a party that would want to of‐ fer itself to run a competent democracy would have com‐ petent democracy within its own ranks."