While Obama calls out voter suppression, Pierre Poilievre takes page from the Republicans’ dirty tricks book

In a recent speech at the National Action Network convention in New York City, U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the issue of voter suppression and voter ID laws.

President Obama echoed Canadian election experts who point out that voting fraud is almost non-existent and there is simply no justification for introducing new, highly restrictive voter ID laws – as Republicans have done in the States and Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives are doing right now in Canada.

“So let’s be clear. The real voter fraud is people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud.” President Barack Obama, April 11, 2014

Sadly, the Unfair Elections Act is doing exactly what President Obama is warning about.

Conservatives persist in making bogus arguments about voter fraud, despite the fact almost all the irregularities investigated by Elections Canada are administrative errors. As a result, Conservatives are ramming through an unfair bill that could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

Canadians deserve a government that encourages people to vote, not the opposite. Canadians deserve better.