Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 21, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Under the authority of The City of Winnipeg Charter, the Community Committee listed below will conduct PUBLIC HEARINGS for the purpose of allowing interested persons to make submissions, ask questions or register objections in respect of the application(s) listed below. Information or documents concerning the applications and a description of the procedure to be followed at the public hearings are available for inspection by calling 204-986-2636 to make an appointment at Unit 15-30 Fort Street, or by visiting the City Clerk’s Department, Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main Street between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays; or on-line at http://www.winnipeg.ca EAST KILDONAN- TRANSCONA COMMUNITY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING Date: Monday, April 8, 2024 Time: 10:30 A.M. Location: City Hall To participate in the hearing, register online at winnipeg.ca/publichearings or by phoning 204-986-7108 by 12:00 noon the business day preceding the meeting. You may also participate in the process by submitting your comments in writing. THIS HEARING CAN BE VIEWED ON LINE AT: https://winnipeg.ca/council/video.asp Under the authority of The City of Winnipeg Charter, the Community Committees listed below will conduct PUBLIC HEARINGS for the purpose of allowing interested persons to make submissions, ask questions or register objections in respect of the application(s) listed below. Information or documents concerning the applications and a description of the procedure to be followed at the public hearings are available for inspection by calling 204-986-2636 to make an appointment at Unit 15-30 Fort Street, or by visiting the City Clerk’s Department, Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main Street between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays; or on-line at www.winnipeg.ca A10 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I CANADA THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024 Liberals introduce legislation updating Elections Act O TTAWA — The Liberal govern- ment has tabled legislation that updates the federal Elections Act as part of its political pact with the NDP. The minister responsible for democratic institutions, Dominic Le- Blanc, said the changes “will enhance Canadians’ ability to exercise their vote while strengthening protections against foreign interference in our elections.” The bill, if passed, would add two more days of advance voting, make a campus voting program permanent and “take steps toward” allowing voters to cast their ballots at any polling station in their riding. It also proposes to add dedicated on- site voting for people who live in long- term care homes and improve the pro- cess for mail-in voting. LeBlanc, who is also public safety minister, pointed out that the amend- ments come out of a collaboration with New Democrats. MP Daniel Blaikie negotiated the bill for the NDP. He appeared alongside LeBlanc for what he said would likely be his last media availability on Parlia- ment Hill before his resignation at the end of the month. He is headed for a job with Manitoba’s premier. “There are often Canadians who are struggling to balance the obligations of work and family in a day as well as get to polling stations in order to be able to vote,” Blaikie said. “And that’s why we felt it was very important to try to expand access and have more days upon which Canadians could vote.” The bill includes a study to expand federal elections to a three-day voting period rather than a single election day. That falls short of the Liberal-NDP agreement, which promised that the parties would work together to make that a reality. LeBlanc said the intention was to have elections fall on a Saturday, Sun- day and Monday, as well as for people to be able to vote from any polling place in their riding right away. But Elections Canada “identified some reasonable concerns,” including the challenge of finding “suitable loca- tions” for polling places over a three- day period. “Elections Canada came to us with some thoughtful operational challen- ges,” said LeBlanc. “We think that they need to be man- dated by Parliament to come back with a precise timeline of how we can get to that. We thought it was a very reason- able objective.” The bill also updates the Canada Elections Act to account for new tech- nology, such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. It clarifies that deepfakes, realistic simulations of public figures such as politicians created with AI technology, are covered under existing offences in the act. Those offences include publish- ing false statements to affect election results and impersonation. LeBlanc said the deepfakes “are cer- tainly something that the security ser- vices have talked to me about in terms of strengthening our ability to resist foreign interference.” He said if a foreign state or hostile actor was using “artificial intelligence in a way that is designed to sabotage an electoral process, we think Elections Canada should properly have in the legislation the tools to deal with that.” The act will also prohibit contribu- tions in the form of crypto-assets, as well as money orders or pre-paid gift cards. The idea is to ban contributions that difficult to trace, the government says. The bill introduced Wednesday would also include a new prohibition on state- ments about activities related to the election or voting process if the intent is to disrupt the election. It would apply in cases where the person knows the statement is false or misleading. The bill also includes new require- ments for privacy policies of federal political parties. They will have to put in place “physical, organizational, and technological security safeguards,” the government says. Political parties will also have to have protocols for notifying individuals if a serious breach takes place, examples that illustrate how they collect and use personal information, and prohibitions against selling personal information, among other rules. The New Democrats are supporting the minority Liberals on key House of Commons votes in exchange for prog- ress on shared priorities. The two-year anniversary of the deal, known as a confidence-and-supply agreement, is later this week. Federal law requires that the next election be held no later than October 2025. LeBlanc said the intention is for par- liamentarians to “ensure that this legis- lation can be in place as quickly as pos- sible” so updates are ready by then. — The Canadian Press Bill, if passed, would include adding two more days of advance voting ;