OTTAWA -- The Harper government says it is not necessary to hold cross-country hearings on its controversial proposals for overhauling Canada's election laws.
Tom Lukiwski, parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, says technology such as teleconferencing, will allow a House of Commons committee to hear from anyone who wants to be heard on reforms to the Elections Act.
But New Democrat MP David Christopherson says that's not good enough for voters who live in remote areas and don't have access to video conferencing technology.
He says it's important to hear from those people since their ability to cast ballots in elections will become more limited under Bill C-23, which would end the practice of allowing people to vouch for voters who don't have proper identification.
Aboriginals who live on reserve, in particular, often have no identification that includes a specific address.
The procedure and House affairs committee is meeting in camera to discuss Christopherson's motion to hold hearings at various locations across the country.
Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux says his party supports the NDP motion.
Prior to the meeting, Lukiwski said Conservative MPs, who hold the majority on the committee, are willing to hold extensive hearings on the massive bill until the beginning of May -- all of them in Ottawa.
He also says they're prepared to consider reasonable amendments.
But he appeared to rule out an amendment to restore the vouching practice.
Christopherson noted that the foreign affairs committee travelled to Ukraine in 2012 to study that country's democracy. He questioned why it should be deemed unnecessary to travel Canada to study this country's democracy.
Among other things, the bill would boost the amount of money individuals can contribute to political parties and the amount parties can spend during elections.
It would also prohibit the chief electoral watchdog from communicating with Canadians about anything other than how, where and when to vote.
Chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand has said his reading of the bill "is that I can no longer speak about democracy in this country."
Pierre Poilievre, minister responsible for democratic reform, said in a television interview Monday that he's open to amending that provision to give Mayrand more comfort.
