Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the answer to the question is that banks will bring an objective perspective to it. It is about assessing the viability of a campaign. That's what banks do—they lend. But they will do so on the principles we've talked about a great deal in the last hour. It is done object

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct, and with proper risk management in place.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  But I would say that your question is legitimate given the concerns we have raised. It does speak to the administrative complexity. This is the whole point. Why does a guarantor exist? It's to backstop the loan so that ultimately if there is a default from the principal person, y

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Banks already have historically provided political loans and I'm sure will continue, but they will do so within a context that they can. That's really the answer.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. In our initial read of the legislation...many years ago, in a previous version, that was something we looked at a little more carefully. It seems that the way it is structured—a loan agreement is an obligation to pay, that sort of thing—it's been designed not to have a lendi

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There was the question I answered earlier about nomination contestants and leadership campaigns, where there are fewer tools available in terms of rebates and things. I think the same would apply in that instance. They don't have a rebate through a party backing or a riding assoc

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Just looking at the legislation, it is very clear that nomination contests and leadership races have fewer tools at their disposal. The rebate does not exist. Therefore, they become inherently more risky in terms of the options available. I think it is just a feature of what the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As it translates into their ability to pull together a successful, viable campaign. I don't have a commentary on what this type of person might look like. Look at the diversity in the House of Commons. It's more a question of that simple fact—it's the campaign itself that matte

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it's a campaign that you're looking at as opposed to the individual.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To cut right to the chase, are there going to be instances when banks will say no to candidates or parties? I think the answer to that question is probably yes. It goes back to a question I answered earlier about the sensitivity on the part of banking institutions to being seen

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've heard in discussion, certainly, in the committee's deliberations to date, about comparisons with the Ontario regime. And there are some similarities, but there are also some differences. For example, the guarantee limit does not exist in Ontario, so an individual can guarant

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This is a big difference because then personal credit histories and things become very relevant. I think it is important to understand the differences when you're assessing the two regimes, because these differences do matter.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  A more general statement in response—I would say banks take their responsibilities quite seriously. How banks conduct themselves in political financing, whether it's under the regime proposed in Bill C-21 or in provincial financing regimes, is ultimately a bank decision, an indiv

Procedure and House Affairs committee  At the end of the day, the bank is not lending to the individual, so the personal credit history is not the relevant feature; it's their ability to have a campaign that is, as I said, a viable campaign. You're not collecting from the individual; you're collecting from the campaig

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe it really becomes a question of the viability of the campaign itself, as opposed to.... It may sound odd to say there doesn't have to be a connection between the viability of the campaign and the electoral outcome, but it is a question.... There is a range of factors in