Friday, October 07, 2005

Elections Chief would consider disclosing voters list under right circumstances

I must have missed this one last week ...

The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada apparently thinks that he'd break the law that prevents disclosing the national list of electors, if the circumstances were right. He wants the law amended so that he could provide the list to organizations like CSIS in certain circumstances:

ottawasun.com - National/World - Chief would mull sharing voters list

"Canada's chief electoral officer says he'd consider illegally sharing the confidential federal voters list in the interest of public safety.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley says the law should be changed to allow him to release the list under certain conditions, such as inquiries from Canada's spy agency.

CSIS could use the voter database as it tries to protect citizens, Kingsley said yesterday.

"Of course I can understand why that may raise some alarms. But I also understand that CSIS is a legal entity in this country," he said. "And if they're the ones asking me for something, and I find it reasonable, I'll go along with it -- if the statute is changed.

"Right now if anybody comes to see me and asks me for information -- where I could save lives potentially -- I can't give it. I'd have to break the law. It might even be possible that I would break the law if those were the circumstances."

In a report to Parliament, Kingsley also says he should have new powers to review financial reports from parties."

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