Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 29th, 2014

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Can that be stood until the very end?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I think it is stood.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

It is. Good. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You are going to have to bear with your chair a little bit too, as it's been a while since I've done a clause-by-clause study. When you think I've gone astray, let me know. None of you seem to be shy.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I just missed it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

The first amendment is IND-1. It is deemed moved. Mr. Rathgeber, I'll give you a couple of minutes to discuss it.

[Brent Rathgeber, Independent, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Chair, my two amendments to Bill C-23 I think logically have to be considered together. IND-2 is on page 86 of the package and IND-1 is on page 1.

Simply, what I am attempting to do is, based on the evidence provided to this committee by Mr. Casey regarding the unlevel playing field between independent candidates and those associated with political parties, it proposes to change the amendment of what is a candidate by adding a new candidate definition in proposed subsection 67(7), which would be my second amendment on page 86. It would allow an individual not affiliated with a political party to apply outside of a writ period directly to the Chief Electoral Officer with the same requisite documents that a candidate would apply during a writ period, that is, $1,000, 100 nominators, and an official agent, and therefore could be declared a candidate outside of a writ period by a Chief Electoral Officer, thereby allowing all the rights and privileges of a candidate, including raising money and issuing tax receipts.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you very much.

As you have mentioned another amendment further on, when this one is voted on, we'll tell you what happens with the other.

The clerk informs me that the vote on this one will apply to the other. See how fast we can go.

Are there comments?

Madam Latendresse.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

I have a technical question about the wording of the amendment in French versus English.

The English reads “under subsection 67(7) or 71(1)”, whereas the French just refers to “paragraphe 67(7)”. I'd like to know why that is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We're checking that. Apparently it is only replacing the line down to it. It is the same line but it is shorter in one than in the other. It is line 22 on page 2 and so it only ends up being that.

We are okay with the technical side.

Mr. Scott.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I would like to seek some clarification from the legislative clerk. Are we voting on this, but then we'll also get to Mr. Rathgeber's IND-2 later as a separate vote?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

The vote will apply to both.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

In that case, before making a comment, I want to ask whether Mr. Rathgeber has said all that he needs to on the second one or whether he would like more time.

[Brent Rathgeber, Independent, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

No, the amendments have to be read together. Combined they would, if passed, level the playing field between independent candidates and those related to political parties.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I will certainly be supporting this. I think we heard very compelling testimony from Mr. Casey. He also indicated the length of time into the decades that the discriminatory sections operation of the Canada Elections Act with respect to independents have been noted and yet we have never gotten around to changing them. We have an opportunity now to do so. I think this is one where the record was so clear because of the nature of the testimony from Mr. Casey that I'm not sure I need to say much more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Let's hope that's the case with all.

Mr. Christopherson.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

That's the beauty of being sovereign MPs. We decide for ourselves.

This stuff didn't come easily, because I've always been a candidate as a member of a party and so it's a completely different way of looking at things.

You read it kind of quickly, Mr. Rathgeber. Would you be kind enough to unpack that for me one more time as to the key point of the injustice and how this corrects that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Very quickly.

[Brent Rathgeber, Independent, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Currently under the Canada Elections Act only candidates, political parties, or electoral district associations can raise money outside of a writ period and issue tax credit receipts. My amendments attempt to amend the definition of a candidate to allow an individual who's not affiliated with an official party to apply outside of a writ period, or practically before an election writ is filed, and become a candidate, provided he complies with all the requirements that a candidate would have to comply with during a writ period and be declared a candidate directly by the Chief Electoral Officer, therefore assuming all the rights and privileges, including raising money and issuing tax receipts.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Very good.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I've been trying to figure out some of the questions related to nomenclature. This is a question that relates to this section, but also to some other issues. So I apologize; it's almost a point of order, but not quite. This is IND-1. It relates to IND-2, which I managed to find in clause 28. I was going to ask if there were any other independent amendments Mr. Rathgeber has put in, or if these are the only two. The reason I'm asking this is that, in part, I'm a little confused by the nomenclature. I see some amendments labelled PV, and some labelled G, and I'm just not sure what the scoop is on who has done what. It's hard to zip back and forth and look into the substantive debate at the same time.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Chair, I can respond to that, if allowed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Sure. Very quickly.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

It's actually quite simple.

The PV refers to “Parti Vert”. G refers to “government”. I think that will be the only codes you need to unpackage.