MP's family shouldn't be registered to vote here
Ariss residents prohibited from doing so by federal Elections Act
GREG MERCER
GUELPH (Jan 11, 2006)
Ken Morgan's curiosity was piqued the moment he spotted two voter cards tucked in the mail at Conservative Brent Barr's campaign office in Guelph.
They were for Kevin and Gillian Chamberlain, son and daughter-in-law of Liberal MP Brenda Chamberlain. Both live outside the Guelph riding, but the address on the cards was clearly for Barr's campaign office on Speedvale Avenue.
"I read the names and my eyebrows kind of raised," said Morgan, the Conservative campaign manager.
"I thought, 'Why would they be sent here?' "
They were sent there because in 2004, Chamberlain used that same office to run her federal election campaign. Unless Elections Canada is informed of a change in address, it doesn't update its records.
The MP said some of her family reported the Speedvale Avenue office as their address to Elections Canada, which allowed them to vote in Guelph.
That, according to the Elections Act, is against the rules.
Chamberlain also readily admits her family -- who like her live outside the Guelph riding in the Ariss area -- have always voted in Guelph.
Before the electoral boundaries were redrawn in 2004, the riding was called Guelph-Wellington and included Ariss.
The MP said her family was told years ago by a former returning officer that they should vote in the city.
But Chamberlain says if anyone in her family broke the rules by voting in the riding of Guelph in 2004, it's not her place to do anything about it.
"We don't police it. I'm not an employee of Elections Canada," Chamberlain said.
"If (Elections Canada) made an error, then that is their error. It's totally a matter for Elections Canada."
Anne Budra, current local returning officer for Elections Canada, suggested there was nothing wrong with the MP's family registering to vote by using a campaign office as their mailing address or voting in the city, outside their own riding.
Budra compared that right to winning the Masters tournament in golf.
"It's the same as when you're a golfer, when you have won the Green Jacket, you're automatically allowed to play in the next game," Budra said.
The Elections Act says only MPs and those who live with them, as well as students, inmates and military personnel are allowed to vote in a riding where they don't reside.
Chamberlain said neither her son nor daughter-in-law have lived with her since before the last election.
Elections Canada wasn't aware of the issue in Guelph until contacted by the Mercury, spokesperson Réjean Grenier said.
He said last night he filed a report and passed it on to his superiors.
It is also against the rules to use a non-permanent address when registering to vote. "You can't use a non-residence. It has to be where you live," Grenier said.
Chamberlain insists her family was "told to vote in Guelph" by former returning officer Jeff Kane in 1997. He no longer lives in Ontario and couldn't be reached last night for comment.
Up until the 2004 election, Chamberlain lived in the former riding of Guelph-Wellington. With redistribution, two new ridings were created -- Guelph, and Wellington-Halton Hills.
Residents of Ariss, like Chamberlain and her family, are in the riding of Wellington-Halton Hills.
When the boundaries changed, Chamberlain said, no one contacted her to say her family couldn't vote in Guelph.
"I have nothing to do with it and neither do the kids. They voted that way before and they believed they were able to do so again," she said.
Chamberlain, who won by almost 10,000 votes in 2004, is covered by the exemption that lets MPs vote either where they reside, in the riding they represent, or in Ottawa.
When asked if she knew it is against the rules for non-resident family members to vote in Guelph when they don't live here, Chamberlain said: "I have not thought about it, let's put it that way. We were told to vote in Guelph, so we go and vote in Guelph."
The exemption for incumbents --but not other candidates -- means the Green's Mike Nagy, who lives in Rockwood, and the Christian Heritage Party's Peter Ellis, who lives in Fergus, can't vote for themselves in the Guelph riding.
gmercer@guelphmercury.com
..one would think that this Anne Budra, "the current local returning officer for Elections Canada", shouldn't be suggesting that this is alright.
