I would like to strongly recommend this particular amendment, and I hope there's broad interest in it because the goal is to put some controls on the massive leadership loans we see taking place, even though this amendment deals with candidates of any kind, whether electoral or for the leadership.
We believe that the current rules surrounding loans are problematic, and that if the loan is not repaid within 18 months, it's deemed to be a donation. So if someone loans me $100,000 and I don't pay it back, it's deemed to be a donation of $100,000, which is illegal. There's an illegality built into the current Canada Elections Act.
What we contemplate is that there shouldn't be these huge personal loans to begin with, because it's impossible to track down the repayment schedule, etc. In the Liberal leadership race, a person loaned himself or herself $50,000. How do we ever know if the person repaid the loan?
So the amendments I'm seeking are in two stages, NDP-2 and NDP-3. The first part only says that the loan must be made through a bank, credit union, or other financial institution.
When we get to NDP-3, you will see that we also consider that no one should be allowed to co-sign a loan to an extent greater than the donation limit of that individual, in case there's a default and that loan becomes a donation. This would solve the problem that there are no built-in illegalities to the bill. So I urge support that these loans....
In closing, one of our concerns and reasons for moving this is that we believe some of the loans in the current Liberal leadership race are tantamount to corporate sponsorship, because they're made by senior corporate executives and may never be repaid. So in the cases of Apotex Inc. and Power Corporation, these people are having a disproportionate influence in the political arena by virtue of these massive personal loans.
So I urge support of NDP-2, meaning these loans have to come through a lending institution.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])