moved for leave to introduce Bill C-276, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (registration of political parties).
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the bill is to amend the Canada Elections Act to allow the registration of political parties by the chief electoral officer only when the party nominates candidates in at least seven provinces that have in aggregate at least 50 per cent of the population of all the provinces and in at least half of the electoral districts in each of those seven provinces.
For the purpose of the Canada Elections Act, the provinces include the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
There are four principal aims of this bill. First is to ensure that those parties entering into federal elections are nominating candidates in a majority of ridings across Canada so that their support and point of view will be national in scope. Second is to ensure that each party provides a platform which is reflective of national interests and not of regional scope. Third is to provide greater access to the majority of Canadians to pass judgment via a national convention or a general election on a party's political platform. Fourth is the aim to keep Canada as one, united and indivisible.
I ask all members of the House to support my private member's bill.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)