Mr. SPEAKER:

I have directed the Clerk of the House to lay upon the table of the House my recommendation and his report on the subject of the retirement of Mr. D. C. Chamberlain, Accountant of the House, and of the promotion of Mr. D. W. Cameron, Assistant Accountant, to the position of accountant.

Mr. H. H. McLEAN:

It was suggested by the Prime Minister that all British subjects who are enlisted in the Canadian forces should be entitled to vote, whether or not they have attained the age of 21 years. I suggest that this section be amended by striking out the words "of 21 years of age or upwards" after the word "subject" in the first line. All those who have enlisted are doing men's work, and I think that they should be entitled to vote.

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

As the lion.

member knows, this Bill did not come down originally as a Government measure, but was reported by a committee to whom certain of the laws relating to elections were referred for amendment. Conse-iquently, the Bill has not received the consideration of the members of the Government as a whole which such measures usually do receive. I expressed an opin-tion which has just been made by my hon. friend, and I am still of that opinion.

I 3hall be glad if the section is allowed to stand until the afternoon, in order that it may receive a little further consideration at our hands. I think there is a great deal of force in the hon. member's suggestion,

Mr. OLIVER:

It seems to me that this provision does not adequately define where the soldier shall vote.

Sir ROBERT BORDEN:

You mean where his vote shall be counted?

Mr. OLIVER:

Yes. I think that should be made considerably more definite than it is. As I read the section, it would seem practically to permit the soldier qualified to vote in two places to vote in whichever place he chose. I am aware that the section does not say that, tout I do not see how he is prevented from making whatever choice he pleases. I would toe very much better satisfied' if the section said the soldier should vote in the place where he resided for thirty days toefore his enrollment, and let that toe his definite qualification. Then we would know where we were at; tout toy the proviso the qualification is shifted from one leg to the other, and it is a most undesirable situation in which to find the law.

Mr. DOHERTY:

It seems to me that the proviso makes it perfectly cleaT that if a man, irrespective of 'being a soldier, is a qualified voter in any particular electoral district, he shall vote in that electoral district only. He does not have a choice; he is, under the proviso, to vote in the elec-

toral district in which he is qualified'. It seemed to us in the drafting of the Bill that, as far as possible, we ought to leave things in the constituency in their normal situation and interfere with the normal situation only to such extent as might toe absolutely necessary in order to carry out the provision that gives every soldier a vote. Under the clause as it stands the soldier who is a qualified voter in any particular electoral district remains a qualified voter in that particular electoral district just as though this Act had not been passed, and all that he gets out of this Act is the method furnished to him toy which he can exercise that right. It seemed to us more proper that the man who is a voter in a particular electoral district ought not to be allowed to transfer himself to another electoral district. If, as the hon. member suggests, you make it imperative that all soldiers shall vote in the places in which they resided 30 days before enlistment, you make a situation where, in some particular place, where enlistmetnt was carried on upon a large scale, you will have transferred into that electoral district from a number of other electoral districts a very large number of votes which may, under conceivable circumstances, override the vote of the ordinary voters in that district; and, on the other hand, you may take out of the electoral district to which each of these soldiers as voters belonged' under the general law, a very large number of persons entitled to vote in that district. The' effect of doing these two things might be to entirely modify the complexion of one or more constituencies. As far as it was possible to do so consistently with giving the soldiers a vote, we sought not to disturb the conditions in the different constituencies; and, notwithstanding what the hon. gentleman has pointed out, it seems to me that the policy of the section, if I may use that term, is very much preferable to a system that would make this law operate to take all soldiers who are actual voters in a particular electoral district forcibly out of that district and transfer them to some other district where they might happen to have been residing before enrollment. The clause as it stands, with the proviso, seemed to us to so operate as to cause the least possible disturbance .of existing conditions, and that seems to me to be a very desirable thing.

Mr. GERMAN:

It seems that the Minister of Justice has just now struck the crux of this situation which makes it bad. All his suggestions imply that an election is to

be held on the voters1 list as it is at present constituted. But supposing an election is held, not this year, but on the voters' list which is prepared this year, what does he [DOT] say about these absentees from each electoral district who may be on the voters' list now. but who, when the lists are revised this coming summer, will be struck off in consequence of their absence? Do these parties remain on the voters' list because they are soldiers abroad? The Bill does not provide for that. If the Bill provides that because a man may be nonresident in a district through being abroad on war service he is to be considered an elector in that electoral district, you may then possibly overcome this difficulty; but these votes will be counted on the evening of polling day, after the other votes throughout the whole electoral district are counted.

Mr. R. B. BENNETT:

They would all

be counted at the same time, after the poll closes.

Mr. GERMAN:

They cannot all be

counted at the same time because the Bill provides that the returning officer is to fix a time after the poll is closed to count the vote. Every one knows that the vote is counted in each electoral polling subdivision as soon as the poll is closed. The return is immediately and as quickly as possible sent to the county town or wherever the central office happens to be. These returns would show that one candidate was elected by a small majority. As I suggested last night, here is where one of the difficulties will come in.

Mr. R. B. BENNETT:

The hon. gentleman misunderstands the Bill. Supposing there are twenty polls in an electoral district. Then the counting of the soldiers' ballots by the returning officer makes the twenty-first poll, and the return from it will come as quickly as the others, the returning officer himself being the person who counts the soldiers' ballots and not the deputies.

Mr. GERMAN:

I may not have the superabundant ability of the hon. member for Calgary, but I think I understand this Bill and I feel very confident I understand the effect it will have. When the vote is polled the candidates or their representatives can be present and see the vote counted. When the returning officer opens the envelopes to count the votes, he sees the name of some man. What does he do? He must look over the voters' list to see whether or not that man is on the list and entitled to vote

in that district. He does not find his name on the voters' list; his name need not be on the list if he swears he is a resident. How do you know whether he is a resident there or not? There is where the great difficulty and uncertainty will come, and that is the very point that will create all the dissatisfaction in the event of the soldiers' vote changing the result of the poll in that particular locality.

That is my objection to this Bill. Of course, if an election were held on the present voters' list the difficulty would be overcome to some extent. I shall be very sorry if the Government do have an election this year-and it looks as if that is what they intend-but it will certainly overcome part of the difficulty. But, if the election is not held this year, the name of every soldier on the voters' list now for any particular district will be struck off, unless there is a clause in the Bill providing that their residence shall be assumed on account of their being away as soldiers.

Mr. OLIVER:

I wish to follow the remarks of the Minister of Justice. While his statement of the intent of the section is, of course, to be accepted as a pious declaration, there are no means of insisting that that intent shall be carried out. The volunteer signs a declaration that he has not cast any other ballot paper, but there is nothing to show the elector in Saskatchewan or Alberta, where we have no voters' lists, whether he is qualified or not to vote in any particular locality. He could claim qualification to vote in a certain locality where he is not entitled to cast his vote, and he might do that quite conscientiously. If this is to be a legitimate attempt to count the soldiers' vote the way he gave it, there should be a definite knowledge as to where the soldier is entitled to vote, and his vote should be confined to that locality. I quite appreciate what my hon. friend said about the undesirability of unhinging the voting representation of an electoral district; but it is far better that the representation should be unhinged, and Chat we should know definitely what the rights of the voters are and with whom we have to deal, than that it should be unhinged just the same, and nobody should know the limitations of their rights, or how they can keep those rights within those limitations. If we have to go up against a proposition like this, in all conscience let us know exactly what we are going up against. Do not let it be a case of thimble and pea- maybe it is here, and maybe it is not.

Mr. R. B. BENNETT:

I think I can make clear that provision has been made to meet the objection raised by my hon. friend; for I also was impressed with the necessity of making such a provision. This section was drawn with the intention of providing for two classes: it provided, first, that those who resided in the locality for thirty days prior to enlisting should have a vote in that locality; and, secondly, that those wh* had been continuously resident in some locality before they enlisted, should have their votes where they had always had them. I think that is what my hon. friend desires.

Mr. OLIVER:

I am not urging one way or the other; but I say it should be one way or the other.

Mr. BENNETT:

My hon. friend will pardon me for saying that that is what he desired, for he does not desire anything. The affidavit as drawn did not make clear the distinction to which he has directed attention. I happened to be out of the city when the Bill was finally drawn, but I have since submitted an alternative to the affidavit on page 6, by which it will be made clear that if the soldier has resided in a community for a longer period than thirty days his vote will be counted at that place where he would have exercised his franchise had be been home. Let me take a concrete case. One of the electors in West Calgary, we will say, is voting under this Act. He will vote in West Calgary. But if he happened to enlist in Edmonton, and had resided in Edmonton for thirty days prior to enlistment, his vote would be counted in Edmonton. I am quite as anxious as my hon. friend to meet the objection he has raised; and, as I have said, we are adding a paragraph to that affidavit which will meet that objection. I realized that one could not ask for a specific provision for our two provinces, but that such a provision should be inserted in the affidavits as would allow a residence vote to be counted in the constituency in which the soldier has lived, unless his residence at the point of enlistment qualified him for a vote at that place only. Have I made myself clear?