Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) Committee on May 9th, 2006

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

And you believe that's constitutionally justified.

[Kathy O'Hara]

Yes, we do.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Ms. Jennings.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Thank you to Mr. Murphy for sharing his time with me.

Coming back to the issue of third parties that might do lobbying, advertising, and so on, during an election campaign, are they required to disclose to the Chief Electoral Officer where their money comes from?

[Marc Chénier]

If a third party receives contributions from somebody else, currently they have to disclose the source of the contributions. In the case of a contribution that's for more than $200, they have to disclose the identity of the donor.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Therefore, if the contribution is less than $200, they do not have to disclose the donor. They simply have to disclose that they received a donation of $190.

[Marc Chénier]

That's correct.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Is there any requirement that they have to at least show that the donation came from a Canadian citizen?

[Marc Chénier]

There's no obligation for them to prove that the donation came from a Canadian citizen, although in some cases they have to have the return that they filed with the Chief Electoral Officer audited. In those cases it would be up to the auditor to make sure that the contributions received were in conformity with the Canada Elections Act.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Okay. Therefore, for registered political parties, is there a tacit or overt requirement that any donation received is in fact received from a Canadian citizen?

[Marc Chénier]

There's an explicit provision in the Canada Elections Act that only Canadians and, as I said before, Canadian corporations and trade unions that have bargaining rights in Canada can donate to a political party.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

But there is not that same explicit requirement for a third party.

[Marc Chénier]

Yes, I believe there is for third parties.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Then I must have misunderstood what you said previously.

[A voice]

You said no, the individual contributing didn't have to.

[Marc Chénier]

They have to disclose the identity of the contributions they receive if they're over $200, and they can only accept such contributions from Canadians. So that's Canadian corporations, trade unions, and individuals.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Sauvageau.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Welcome, and thank you for being here today.

You said that you are here to answer questions on political party funding and public appointment.

Section 228 of Bill C-2 states:

1.1 The Governor in Council may establish a Public Appointments Commission consisting of a chairperson and not more than four other members to perform such functions as the Governor in Council may specify, and may appoint the chairperson and other members and fix their remuneration and expenses.

However, the functions of the commission are not set out in the bill. I would like to know whether there have been any appointments relating to the position of public appointments commissioner, or if the government has waited for this committee to examine the bill before making any appointments.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Is there a point of order?

I apologize. I thought there was a point of order.

[Kathy O'Hara]

I mentioned at the beginning that we could answer questions about the appointment of agents of Parliament.

You're asking a question about the Public Appointments Commission, which is another part of the Privy Council Office. If you would like, they could be asked to be witnesses to answer questions about the Public Appointments Commission. We can answer questions about the appointment of agents of Parliament, if you'd like.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you.

My next question is based on the research paper. Researchers prepare extremely relevant documents, even when they do not know who the witnesses we will be seeing are 12 hours in advance. That's what happens when things are rushed, as they are being rushed now.

Bill C-2 deals with reforms to the political party financing system. But we have already considered Bill C-79, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (third party election advertising), which died on the Order Paper. The researchers suggest that we ask you the following question.

Do you believe that the political financing reforms provided for in Bill C-2 are ineffective unless accompanied by measures covering third party election advertising? That is somewhat similar to the question put by Mr. Murphy, but perhaps more specific.

[Kathy O'Hara]

With respect to the legislation, as you know, it reflects the accountability elements of the Conservative campaign platform, which did not include reference to the issue of third party advertising. That's why Bill C-2 does not address those issues.

As you know, there will be, ultimately, a review of Bill C-24 when the Chief Electoral Officer tables his report--he has to do a follow-up report to the 2004 election--and it seems to me that would be an opportunity for the procedure and House affairs committee to consider the issue of third party advertising. But that issue itself, as you know, is not addressed here.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Please forgive me for being ignorant and naive. Could that mean that companies, unions and individuals could not contribute more than $1,000 to a political party during an election campaign, but a pressure group could indirectly contribute $100,000 of advertising? I don't quite understand.

[Kathy O'Hara]

Right. Under the new bill, the corporation and union would not be able to contribute any money to the political party, but would be able to contribute to a third party to a maximum of $150,000 and $3,000 per riding.