Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
I'm going to ask Mr. Chipeur some questions regarding third party financing.
As you noted, the bill closes certain loopholes in the Canada Elections Act that have been exploited by foreign actors and certain registered third parties in terms of foreign actors and foreign interests being able to fund registered third parties for regulated activities. In that regard, the bill, as a general rule, requires registered third parties to set up a separate bank account for regulated activities, with the stipulation that contributions to that bank account come only from individual Canadians. However, there is an exception where third parties can use their own funds for regulated activities if contributions constitute 10% or less of the third party's revenue in the year prior to the pre-election period. According to the Chief Electoral Officer, where this exception applies to a third party, the funds used by the third party would be treated as commingled, whatever the source. That could mean contributions from a foreign source, hypothetically.
Would you agree that, with this third party exception in the bill—the 10% exception—loopholes that have enabled third parties to use foreign money for regulated activities are not closed and, in fact, remain wide open?