Yes, in fact, it is like four elephants in a row.
I will not dwell at length on the many stages we went through before undertaking this reform, because these are well known. However, I will mention the reports, three of them, from the chief electoral officer, which have guided our efforts and, of course, as I said, the work done by the former and current members of the committee.
Last fall, I took advantage of the parliamentary break to travel across the country to meet academics and students, and to talk to them about the reform that was taking shape.
What changes will be made by the bill? First, there a number of changes of an administrative nature. For example, the problem of voting hours in time zones that do not switch to daylight savings time has been corrected. We have also given returning officers the right to vote, which is certainly something that was due.
We are ensuring that the right of candidates to campaign in multiple unit residential buildings is protected by law so that people who own these large buildings cannot stop a candidate from entering if they happen to favour another political party.
We have also harmonized certain measures of the act which the requirements of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms have called for in various judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada, mainly the Libman decision. This includes the reintroduction of third party spending limits. I will come back to that point in a few minutes.
Finally, with regard to financing, we have attempted to make certain provisions of the act consistent with the economic reality of today; that is to say, to take into account the need to change some of the measures which were designed some 30 years ago.
Since Bill C-2 was introduced there have been some important changes. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs continued its important work throughout the fall. I know something about this because I was called upon to testify before the committee on at least three different occasions. The latest conclusions of the committee are reflected in Bill C-2. The committee made a number of amendments to the bill which I would like to outline to the House today.
Hon. members will recall that originally the Canada Elections Act included a blackout of some 72 hours before polling day. The supreme court felt that 72 hours was too long, but that a blackout was justifiable. The court felt that 72 hours was not justifiable and that in order for this blackout period to work there would have to be other elements to justify it.
We initially wanted a blackout period of 48 hours. Many people, including members of the House, told us they would not want to support that measure. Therefore, we eliminated the provision entirely, except for a blackout on voting day. That came largely as a result of representations which we received from western Canadians who felt that it was inappropriate to have the results in central Canada known to people in western Canada before they had voted themselves, something which we recognized some time ago. It was equally important to protect the new so-called exit polls from the night of the election from becoming known until people had actually voted themselves. We concur with that and the change has been made to reflect it.
We also have a blackout that establishes a cutoff for polls and ads to ensure that voters across the country have access to the same information before they vote.
If we think it is important for voters in western Canada not to have access to the results of the votes cast in eastern Canada, surely it is equally important for voting held previously and as manifested in exit polls not to be revealed before the voting is complete.
We had also decided to abolish the process of vouching, which allows voters in rural regions to guarantee the identity of their neighbours at the polling place, even if those neighbours have not been registered. Here, as well, we heard some concerns and we have agreed to extend this vouching process to all electoral districts subject to certain conditions. I want to thank the hon. member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre who made excellent contributions to the committee in this regard, and who offered amendments.
Another amendment he offered, which we accepted at report stage, would allow us to know the identity of people who give contributions through companies they own when those companies are numbered companies and do not otherwise have easily identifiable names. Now the names of the principals will be known.
I believe the hon. member for Verchères—Les-Patriotes also made a contribution to that effect and I thank him as well.