moved for leave to introduce Bill C-267, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (election expenses).
Madam Speaker, with the permission of the House, may I make a short statement on each bill.
The purpose of the bill covering election expenses is to eliminate any reimbursement by taxpayers of election expenses incurred by candidates and political parties.
The Canada Elections Act presently obliges taxpayers to reimburse 50 per cent of election expenses of candidates and political parties if they achieve set percentages of the vote.
Such reimbursement is actually a taxpayer funded grant to a special interest group which should be raising the money from the people it purports to represent. Passage of the bill would ensure that they would have to do exactly that.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)