This bill is from the 42nd Parliament, 1st session, which ended in September 2019.
Karina Gould Liberal
This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.
This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.
This enactment amends the Canada Elections Act to
(a) enact an advertising and reporting regime for fundraising events attended by Ministers, party leaders or leadership contestants; and
(b) harmonize the rules applicable to contest expenses of nomination contestants and leadership contestants with the rules applicable to election expenses of candidates.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-50s:
Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Anthony Rota
Indeed, we do not have quorum.
And the bells having rung:
We now have quorum.
Resuming debate. The hon. member for Parry Sound—Muskoka.
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Speaker, I always like to have more of an audience, so thanks to the members of the House.
As I was saying, that is where this came from, and it was transferred holus-bolus in full form to the governing Liberal ethos once it obtained power here in Ottawa. When this came to light, the reaction of the Liberal government was to say that it was going to fix things. However, and the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley said the same thing, what the Liberals have done in their “fix” on this is to actually sanctify the situation where they were shaking down people for money, making sure that stakeholders and lobbyists were contacted, and telling them if they wanted to see the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, or the Natural Resources Minister they would have to pay to play.
I want this to be very clear for those who might be listening or watching. Cash-for-access is not going away. The bill somehow creates a hardened resin of legitimacy over what is essentially a rotten process. Now we have amber hardening on this illegitimate process through the bill. That is why we are objecting to the bill.
This is not about us wanting to have more cash-for-access fundraisers. We want the opposite. We want a bill that works. That is why we were so disappointed to see that the solution of the Prime Minister, his cabinet, and the Liberal backbench was to merely say that these cash for access fundraisers would go on, but there are hoops to jump through.
I have been up in the House over the last week talking about the Norsat deal, where, in a mystifying way, absolutely baffling, the Liberal government has refused to do a national security review before accepting and allowing an investment from a Chinese company, Hytera, to take over Norsat, a very specialized IT and tech company involved in our own national defence, with our friends to the south, and the Department of Defense in the U.S.A. and elsewhere. It would be normal practice to have a national security review.
I will tie this together to the bill, I assure you, Mr. Speaker.
We have been asking the government why it is doing this. Why not just have a review and let the security agencies do their jobs, and talk to our allies, not just perfunctorily to say it has made its decision but actually have a dialogue with our allies? When the same company, Hytera, was taking over a British company, the British government added five pages of conditions after a full national security review prior to that takeover taking place. Nothing of this order is happening here.
Forgive us on this side of the House for connecting the dots, because of course many of these cash-for-access fundraisers involve individuals who have been connected to the official mainland People's Republic of China government. We know part of the motive here is that the Liberal government is enamoured and has a fetish—if I dare use that term—for a free trade deal with China. Let me put on the record right now that it will not end well if the government pursues and concludes a free trade deal with China. I predict, we will be losing our shirts, and more.
That is why we wanted real reform in political fundraising so that no one is suspect, even if it is not true. I do not know facts. I do not know whether there is a connection between political fundraisers with Chinese nationals and their surrogates who have deep connections with the People's Republic of China's government. I do not know whether there is a connection, but we have to be Caesar's wife in this place, perhaps an old term, maybe not as appropriate now, but the point is that we have to be cleaner than clean. We have to make sure that the public has confidence that public policy decisions are being made for the right reasons, for the reasons built after a public policy debate has taken place by government. Maybe I would disagree with their decision, but the government would be making a decision with full legitimacy and full credibility. That is what we want. I know we are going to disagree, but it is so important to have the legitimacy of decision-making unquestioned.
I would say to members opposite that they are not doing themselves any favours by creating this regime and continuing this regime of cash-for-access because then every decision they make is susceptible to question, to delegitimization, to incredulity, and to cynicism. It is a government that professed to be the answer to cynicism. The hon. members rode in and were going to slay the dragon of skepticism and cynicism in our polity.
However, now they are doing this. They created this system of cash-for-access, imported it from the province of Ontario from the McGuinty-Wynne era, which I state for the record I hope to be drawing to a close but that is up to the voters of Ontario. They imported it, improved upon it, and created a cash-for-access machine and I dare say, while we on this side of the House have every right to question any decision that we think is contrary to the Canadian interests, it pains me that part of that dialogue is always going to be about the underlying motive of the Liberal government decision-making because of this cash-for-access racket, which will continue under the bill.
My friends who have stood up already talked about some of the details. I want to state for the record that this is different from the way the previous government raised money in degree as well as function. We just did not do things this way and we are proud as the Conservative Party that most of our donations are smaller donations, $10, $20, $30, $50, $100, that is what we rely on overwhelmingly and the statistics prove that out.
I would encourage hon. members on the other side to think before they vote on the bill. There is still time to amend and to have a better bill that will actually do what the Liberals promised it would do, but we are a far journey away from seeing that in the bill today.
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite made a number of statements that are designed to mislead the Canadian population, carefully chosen words such as “cash” for access, which he used 10 times. “Cash” speaks to anonymity, criminality, and envelopes full of money. They know full well there is no cash for access. There is no cash used.
I have a simple question, which I doubt will be answered with a yes or no. Does the member have any knowledge of any member here accepting cash--not a cheque, not a credit card, but cash--which he used nine times, to be precise? Does he have knowledge of any member accepting cash, yes or no?
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
No, Mr. Speaker, that is a term of art. The hon. member knows that. Please amend the Hansard so that I said “pay to play”, rather than “cash for access”, if it makes the hon. member feel better.
The point, and what people watching at home should know, is that the Liberal Party created a system where it was expected, in order to get access to high-ranking individuals in the Liberal Party and the Liberal government, an individual had to write a cheque, use their credit card, or whatever. That is pay to play. If the hon. member does not want me to use “cash for access”, I will use “pay to play”.
Christine Moore NDP Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Mr. Speaker, since my colleague has such a good grasp of the financial system and tax credits, I have a question for him.
Any time people pay to have access to a minister or the Prime Minister, not only does this raise an ethical problem, but it also ends up costing all Canadian taxpayers. Those people are already wealthy enough, so they will receive the full tax credit of about $600. Meanwhile, if poorer Canadians who earn $15,000 or $20,000 somehow managed to shell out $1,500 to gain access to a minister, they would not get a tax credit because they do not earn enough money. Thus, there would be no point.
Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Speaker, I agree with my hon. colleague. This is not only about the effectiveness of our democratic system, but also about taxpayers.
Of course we have a system that allows people who can take part in political fundraising activities to receive some compensation.
An individual can get a tax receipt.
The hon. member is quite correct. This is not just a question of the efficiency and efficacy of a democratic process. It is also a question for every taxpayer in this country. Do they want a system created where pay to play is sanctified in the bill?
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I rise on a point of order, Mr. Speaker. There have been a number of misleading statements around the cash for access—
Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Anthony Rota
I think we are going into debate unless they have to do with the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington.
Is there a rule that the member could point to in the procedure?
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
There is an imputed motive that the Liberals are—
Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Anthony Rota
I am afraid that is debate. We will have to pass on that, sorry.
Is there another point of order?
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Mr. Speaker, the member made a statement that was patently untrue. Can we call it out? He has made a patently untrue statement that the donations to the Conservative Party are smaller on average than the donations to the Liberal Party. This is patently untrue. Can he retract it, yes or no?
Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Anthony Rota
Unless the hon. member wants to retract it, what I will do is take it on advisement and then come back to the House, if necessary.
Canada Elections ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Anthony Rota
I think we are getting into debate here. I will take it on advisement.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for Calgary Rocky Ridge.
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka for adding to the debate. We have had some excellent speeches from both of the parties on the opposition benches this morning. We have heard how attendees at cash for access fundraisers have actually boasted publicly about the access they gained and about how that managed to smooth the wheels of getting what they wanted from the government. I thank the member for his contribution in establishing the difference between raising money, which of course all parties do, and trading and exchanging payment for access from people with vested interests in the government, people who have business and are carrying on business with the government, paying secretly to see the government.
I would like the member to comment on the absurd irony of this debate, where the government has introduced a bill it claims would enhance openness and transparency, in response to its own secretive and opaque practices, and then claiming virtue for doing so.