So you would have candidates for political office saying they present themselves as independents, with very little chance of winning. They happen to have a trust that was passed on to them. It's perfectly legitimate, but it would not be legitimate if they held electoral office. They would have to dissolve that trust, even if they were never going to be elected, simply to put their name on the ballot, and that's not the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law is to get at people who are in office so that they do not accept personal trusts that amount to secret compensation in a way that could influence their conduct in the House of Commons.
So to take that and put it under the Canada Elections Act is totally illogical. It presents a whole series of legal challenges, because you'd have a section designed to deal with the accountability of members of Parliament who are elected finding itself in a section of the Canada Elections Act that has literally nothing to do with the provision that would be contained in it.
So with that, I respectfully offer my opposition to this amendment.
Thank you.