Thank you for that important question. Through the chair, we're happy to respond.
When it comes to the third party contributions piece, our constitutional concern is simply that it engages freedom of association. Unions and their members have the right not only to work in coalition with other unions but also to work through their own union on important issues. The pieces of the bill that touch on the third party to third party contributions will, in our view, unnecessarily inhibit that ability. That's what, for us, engages the freedom of association.
However, there is also another constitutional concern we have, and that relates to the possibility that under the current wording of the bill, the definition of “contributions” under the act could capture union dues. If it does, that would mean reporting vast amounts of personal information about our members to Elections Canada, and that's where we have privacy concerns around that possibility in terms of section 8, “unreasonable search or seizure”.