I will move amendment NDP-4 on page 53. I think people will like this one a lot better than they liked amendments NDP-2 and NDP-3.
This one deals with the issue of the Volpe clause. This is what we're calling the Volpe clause.
Canadians were horrified. They were shocked and appalled, from one end of the country to the other, that children were being exploited by those who would seek to abuse the donation limits of the Canada Elections Act. It drove people away from the elections process, I think. An already jaded electorate was jaded even further by this rampant abuse. Clearly there's a legislative need to create an environment where the people aren't willy-nilly circumventing the donation limits of the Canada Elections Act.
In the case of minors, we believe this is a logical approach to address the issue of whether minors should or should not be able to make donations. The language we're recommending is “Any contribution made to a candidate by a minor is considered to be made by the parent”--and I would like to add the word “or guardian”, if I may, later--“of the minor designated for that purpose” by the parent or guardian of the minor.
I think this satisfies everything. There are logical reasons that the guardian should be directly linked to any donation by the minor.
First of all, we have to start from the premise that it's not a bad thing that minors make contributions to the electoral process. That's certainly our position, that while maybe it's something that should not be encouraged, it shouldn't be discouraged.
To accommodate that, we should also start from the premise that guardians or parents have a responsibility for the actions of a minor. That's well established in law. If a child vandalizes someone's house or something, it's the parent who's going to have to make good for that, often through the courts. This is true also in this case, that the guardians and the parents have some control and direction over their minor children. So if we are saying that minors should be able to donate, and if we are saying that parents and guardians have some responsibility, and if we are realizing that it's the parents who will be able to use that contribution as a tax deduction, if it's in excess of the $25, as pointed out by Mr. Chénier, then this language satisfies all of those and it would preclude the possibility of some corporate executive laundering money through their children's bank accounts to exceed the donation limits of the Canada Elections Act.
Thank you.