Mr. Chair, I understand this change very clearly. Nowhere does it say that loans must be endorsed or guaranteed by the association. From what we can read in the bill before us, the association and the party are not necessarily aware of the situation. The Bloc Québécois' amendment seeks only to establish a normal situation by removing the association or the party from responsibility for a debt they knew nothing about.
So we say in the amendment that the Chief Electoral Officer must inform the claimant, the candidate's registered riding association, or if there is no registered association, the party. I feel that, somewhere in this bill, it should have been clearly, honestly and transparently stated that the association or the party would be ultimately responsible for the debt, but that has not been done. This is why I think the Bloc Québécois is perfectly right to remove that part of the clause, in order to prevent any association or political party from becoming responsible for the debt.
It is simply that the government lacked transparency in preparing this bill. As a committee, we want to add that transparency. So I will vote for the amendment and I urge my colleagues to do the same, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much.