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Citing deep concern about “people from the rest of Canada” deciding elections, the Parti Québécois has included daily reports on voter registration and “verification” in its list of demands for the chief electoral officer. These concerns have emerged over a recent increase in Anglophone and allophone voter registrations.
PQ candidate Léo Bureau-Blouin said they “want to make sure it’s Quebecers who choose their government.”
Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Amir Khadir says of the PQ tactic, “I see in that a bit of fear-mongering, which is perhaps not justified.” He worries that this will lead to every applicant being suspected of trying to unjustly influence elections.
The former president of the Sainte–Marie–Saint–Jacques board of revisors, Mathieu Vandal, was so worried that he quit on Friday, saying that many of the documents that voters could provide would not fully prove their right to vote in Quebec. According to a statement released by the Chief Electoral Officer on March 22, this brings up questions about “domicile” and interpretation of voter intent to take up residence in a particular area.
More and more non-francophone applicants, especially students, have been rejected.
Roger Rivard, the president of the board of revisors in Sainte-Henri-Sainte-Anne, says their “decision is quite important because if we enter someone who is not eligible to vote, he’s on the list forever and we have no right to take him off.”
Source: CBC News Montreal.
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