Mr. Kingsley, welcome to the committee.
I have a number of questions that I would like to get on the record.
Let's go back to the ability to compel. You state, “Bill C-23 would certainly provide longer reach and sharper teeth”—an interesting choice of wording, I thought—“should the authority to compel testimony be granted to the Commissioner of Canada Elections...”.
Without the authority to compel a witness, we would argue that the legislation, when a violation has occurred, in fact, is going to get weaker, because those individuals.... Now it's becoming even that much better known that if you don't want to say anything to Elections Canada, you don't have to say anything to Elections Canada. Many independent election authorities today across Canada already have that authority, so in the past we were saying that in fact this should have been brought in, in the form of a change, to allow Elections Canada to compel a witness.
Could we have a clear statement from you: do you not concur that having the ability to compel a witness would in fact directly help in getting prosecutions for things such as the robocalls?