Mr. Speaker, I will deal very quickly with all the member's questions.
With regard to the business of orders in council and the involvement of the Clerk of the Privy Council, I do not think anybody should be concerned about that. I recognize where the member is coming from.
In addition to orders in council, I also asked whether the current clerk was involved with the production of the red book leading up to the 2000 campaign which others have said would be a breach. In any event, according to newspaper reports he was somehow caught up, to some degree, with the exciting and fascinating debate that went on last weekend involving the ex-finance minister and the current Prime Minister. If there was involvement there we should be properly concerned about that.
I am delighted to see the Speaker in the Chair because he knows firsthand about the royal commission on electoral reform and party financing that began about 1988 or 1989. Some very good, solid recommendations are in the Lortie report, recommendations that by and large have not been followed. Some of them deal with party financing. I encourage the member to look at that report or ask the Speaker for a briefing because he could do that on a firsthand basis.
The member referred to what happens in the United States. I recall when that commission had meetings in Washington. We sat down with a group of politicians and backroom strategists who started off the meeting by saying that they had looked at our laws and did not think they had a single thing to teach us. They felt that we had a lot we could teach them, and that is true.
However, having said that, it is not perfect. One thing that could happen and probably should happen is that there should be strict limits on the amount that can be donated. At the same time I think it is important to note that if we are going to limit and restrict donations, there has to be some additional public involvement. We do have some public financing in our laws but we need more in order to make it fair and equitable. If that happened it would take many of the current concerns out of the system.
I agree with where the member is coming from on third party advertising. I have always agreed with that legislation. I was concerned when Alberta judges turned it down. I am not talking about federal or provincial elections. I am talking about Canadian Wheat Board elections which come up every two years. Allegations were made after the last board election that folks who were interested in getting rid of the wheat board or in electing directors of the board who would open up the board to the open market were unnecessarily influencing it. Those allegations were made to the minister responsible for the wheat board. I am not sure what action he has taken but it is a major concern.