This is actually one of the reasons my party, the NDP, felt that the most critical part of this Federal Accountability Act would have been the access to information provisions, because even if you can't regulate people into higher ethical standards by observing them or by shining a light on their activities, you might force them to operate on a more ethical level. Unfortunately, the government withdrew most of the access to information provisions from this bill. We will try to reinsert some through the amendment process.
But going back to the elections financing, the province of Manitoba, where I'm from, followed Quebec's model, and we haven't had that problem so much, because the penalties are very severe for cheating. It would be against the law to do anything to deliberately circumvent the donation limits of the act.
I'm being sued currently, frankly, by a Liberal member of Parliament because we believe he's circumventing the act by having the CEO of a company, his wife, and all four of their children donating the maximum amount of money under the Elections Act. We believe that's taking deliberate steps to circumvent the rules and therefore breaking the law.
So rather than give up on trying to enforce the law, I would get tougher on those rules, because I think the principle is worth fighting for. It's fundamentally wrong that a corporate citizen, which is a super-citizen in terms of wealth and power, has more influence over the political process than individuals. I think that principle is offensive.
And unions too. I'm from the union background. Unions are excluded as well, because it just strikes me that only a citizen should be able to participate in the democratic process.
Corporations can't vote, so why should they be able to contribute money?