Evidence of meeting #127 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was elections.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
It would also be a further incentive for a candidate not to collude with a third party.
Liberal
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I mean a foreign third party. It's a fairly strong incentive not to do that.
Liberal
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Taking away the right to seek office from the rights of a citizen is a fairly serious penalty for anything, as it should be. I think the act already has some pretty severe penalties within it. I don't know if this is the best one. The commissioner has the tools to catch the lawbreakers as it is. If somebody is put in jail under a separate thing, that already takes care of it under the Parliament of Canada Act.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
If someone colludes with a third party, is there a way to catch that right now in the act?
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
If somebody commits a crime and is in jail, then they aren't there anyway.
LCdr Jean-François Morin
Yes. As I said earlier, the consequences would be either jail time or a fine, or both.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
But without this amendment, if someone colludes with a third party, can that be caught?
LCdr Jean-François Morin
Of course. This is an additional consequence to being found guilty of the offence itself.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Clause 347 agreed to on division)
(Clause 348 agreed to)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Clause 349 had one amendment, Liberal-59. It's consequential to Liberal-26, which passed, so Liberal-59 passes.
(Clause 349 as amended agreed to on division)
There's a new clause proposed, 349.1, by CPC-167.
Stephanie.
Calgary Midnapore, CPC
Again, this introduces legislation similar to that seen in Ontario as well as the United States in regard to coordination, collusion standards.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
My question to the officials is on the enforceability of this. Does the amendment make it more difficult to enforce the act?
LCdr Jean-François Morin
It is very precise. It also seems very broad, so it would certainly distract from the case law that already exists in the context of collusion. We cannot predict the exact effects of legislating a concept that already has a lot of legal meaning associated with it.
Liberal
LCdr Jean-François Morin
No, it goes into great detail in describing what is and isn't collusion, while the act currently only talks about the general concept of collusion and leaves it to the report to determine the precedent using case law.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
These provisions are based on those adopted by the Ontario Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne in 2014. I suspected our friends across the way would appreciate that in supporting....
October 18th, 2018 / 10:30 a.m.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I thought my friends across the way would appreciate that.
