Mr. Mayrand, thank you for coming and for sending us your documents in answer to the specific questions we put to you during your last appearance.
Moreover, Mr. Guimond, Mr. Mayrand sent us a list of all the returning officers, both new and old.
We also have a profile of the employees, in answer to the questions that I had put. We also received that. I thank your team for this. I note that you are endeavouring to satisfy the requests made by the members of this committee. Thus, I would like to request a second thing from you today.
You said that your study of this bill was limited. You did not see it before it was tabled and you were busy working on another Senate bill. Could you continue your study of this bill? You will not have to come back with your team, but at least, you could tell us about it so as to answer some of our more specific questions. I think that it would be of great help to us. We greatly appreciate your offer of sending us experts to help with our clause-by-clause study of the bill. I think that in the meantime, a closer study of the bill would be of great help to us in adopting the right regulations.
More specifically, I must say that my colleagues Mr. Owen and Ms. Redman raised questions regarding access to loans for certain persons who want to stand for nomination. We are concerned about independent candidates or those who cannot easily get loans from financial institutions through the usual channels in their private lives. We, as women, are very aware of this. I know many women entrepreneurs who have had to deal with this problem during their lives. We are not talking about $100,000 loans, but about small loans for launching small businesses. Some women have never succeeded in getting a loan from a bank. Can you imagine what happens to women who have never stood as candidates and who must apply for a loan from a financial institution that would amount to, let us say, $15,000. It will not be as easy as some male colleagues in this room might think.
I would like you to pay attention to this. The bill intends to give equal opportunities to all those who want to stand as candidates, so that anyone can succeed in doing so, regardless of their financial means. The financial institutions must also understand this, or else, we will not meet the objectives of this bill.