Canada's chief electoral officer remained defiant before a Commons committee Thursday that urged him to change legislation that allows veiled women to vote without having to show their faces.
Marc Mayrand told the Commons standing committee on procedure and the House affairs committee that legislation allowing women to vote while wearing a veil is "clear and unambiguous."
He said changing the rules would be a request "to amend the Act, not uphold the law" -- something he is not about to do.
"I will not in the current circumstances because that would be a requirement for me to offend the Act, not uphold the law on the books," he told committee members.
Mayrand said in 140 years of Canadian history there has never been a problem with veiled women voting.
He also said he warned politicians months ago that the wording of the new election legislation would not require veiled voters to reveal their faces at polling stations, even though that may have been the intent of Bill C-31, which was passed by Parliament in June.
However, said Mayrand, neither senators nor MPs raised any concerns about the matter at the time.
Mayrand, who can change election rules under exceptional circumstances, said he did not feel the situation fell under that category.
He said "juggling" voting rights and freedom of religion is "not up to an administrator of the system."
Frustrated Muslims complained Thursday that Elections Canada is giving special rights to veiled women, even though they never asked for it.
"While we are fighting the Taliban on the ground, you are adopting their ideology at home," said Sohail Raza, of the Muslim Canadian Congress.
Others said politicians were trying to gain political leverage from the controversy.
"They always exploit minorities to get votes," Raheed Raza, of the Learning Forum, told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has blasted Elections Canada, saying the agency has defied the will of elected MPs by allowing Muslim women to wear veils and burkas while voting.
He said it's not the first time the agency has gone against the will of the elected Parliament.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP David McGuinty accused Harper Thursday of "creating and manufacturing a crisis" for political gains.
He said there were two specific reasons why the Conservatives were blaming Mayrand for the controversial legislation.
"One, he needs to provide cover and distract from the fact that his own party is now embroiled in a crisis around advertising money that flowed in and out of ridings -- which is under investigation by Elections Canada," said McGuinty.
"The second reason why he wants to do it is because his pollsters are telling him that he's got to look strong on this issue... Why, because his polling numbers are frightening him, because the support base that he's relying on is crumbling and because people don't trust him when it comes to Charter rights."
William Corbett, commissioner of Canada Elections, has been asked by Elections Canada to check whether advertising expenses by some Tory candidates, incurred during the 2005-06 election campaign, was genuinely spent on local TV and radio spots or instead used to benefit the national campaign.
With files from The Canadian Press
