It is hard to say. I can speculate, but it would be hard since I cannot verify the accuracy of any such guesses.
Obviously, this recommendation would considerably broaden the CEO's inquiry power. The Liberal Party and the Conservative Party pointed to the fact that an external independent audit is conducted, and I must admit there is value in that. To go from that to requiring parties to provide all documents supporting their financial return, if the recommendation ends up being accepted and incorporated into a bill, the CEO's use or interpretation of that ability would need to be defined.
For example, we spent way too many months discussing a publisher's invoice. It was a matter of determining whether the price reflected fair market value. Elections Canada claimed fair market value was the selling price in bookstores, but we said we were buying the whole set. It was purchased from the publisher, and that is the practice of publishers. We had to spend months upon months discussing it before we were able to convince Elections Canada that we had indeed paid fair market value. If the requirement regarding supporting documents is added to the legislation, it should be restricted to prevent things from getting out of hand, as far as Elections Canada goes.