Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 17th, 2018

[LCdr Jean-François Morin]

I will ask my dear colleague Trevor Knight who is an expert in political financing at Elections Canada to complement my answer. I would only add that the definition of candidate at the beginning of the Canada Elections Act says that a candidate is a candidate until all the financial obligations that are required under the act have been complied with.

My understanding is that at the end of this process when all financial returns have been provided and all debts have been reimbursed, the bank account should be closed and when a new campaign opens, then the new candidate should open a new bank account.

[Trevor Knight, Senior Counsel, Legal Services, Elections Canada]

Yes, and the only thing I would add would be that as a candidate, once you start accepting contributions or incurring expenses for your election, even if it's before the writ period, the bank account has to be opened because all those contributions and expenses have to go through that bank account. Also, in closing, once all the transactions of the campaign are done and the surplus is disbursed, that's when the campaign bank account is closed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Is there further discussion?

Do any of the witnesses have any comments on this amendment?

[Stephanie Kusie]

May we have a recorded vote?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

We will have a recorded vote on CPC-111.

(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 3 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

As the amendment is defeated, it also defeats CPC-115. Amendment CPC-153 cannot be moved now because it was dependent on amendment CPC-111.

(Clause 233 agreed to on division)

(On clause 234)

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

There are a few amendments to clause 234.

We will first go to CPC-112.

[Stephanie Kusie]

This one doesn't strike me as familiar, in our having discussed it previously here, but it requires third parties to do pre-election reporting when there is a pre-election period, but the election is not on a fixed date

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

It was. We discussed it on CPC-94. It's a similar basis for the discussion.

[Stephanie Kusie]

Can you recall what the general conclusion was, David, in regard to the necessity or lack thereof for this? I'm sorry to put that burden on you.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

No, but I can tell you that we voted it down.

[Stephanie Kusie]

I'm sure that happened, but I'm trying to remember why.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I don't remember exactly, but I remember that it created weird circumstances that we weren't comfortable with.

That's the short version.

[Stephanie Kusie]

All right.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

This one is clearly better.

This doesn't create weird circumstances. This resolves weird circumstances.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

If there is no further debate, we'll vote on CPC-112.

Did you want it on division?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

We don't say on division if it's defeated, right?

[A voice]

Two voted against it.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

It was defeated on division.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Yes.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That's the wrong side of the dividing line.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Right.

(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We'll move to CPC-113.

[Stephanie Kusie]

As best I know, we did discuss this in detail yesterday, adding the geographical catchment area to opinion poll disclosures.

The government was not in favour of it, so I'm not sure what I could say today to persuade them otherwise. I feel as though we've had this conversation. Although Dancing with the Stars is not on tonight, I don't want to be here for an extended period of time as a result of discussing the—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I'm so out of touch with Dancing with the Stars. Is it getting close to the end of it, or is it just the beginning?

[Stephanie Kusie]

They're about a third to half way through.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

I actually prefer that part. It's funnier.