Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from the beautiful riding of South Shore, which I would have to say is one of the 11 most beautiful ridings in Canada. We are aware that there are 11 ridings in Nova Scotia, which is an interesting coincidence.
My colleague asked about the question of how we could determine what the cost would be in the future, if we did not know what the voter turnout would be. Clearly the answer is that we cannot predict the exact voter turnout for future elections. However when we look at the systems across the country, in provinces that have used systems similar to this like in Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba, this seems to be the best way to calculate the manner of making payments to political parties and providing this kind of funding rather than having them relying upon corporations and having concerns expressed about the perception of influence by corporations.
He talked about the horse being out of the barn. I do not think he would propose that this law or any law would be retroactive. He is not proposing that it should apply to the Conservative Party leadership race that is going on, or the leadership race going on in other parties, or past leadership races because really it would be the same effect. If we are going to apply it to one that has already started, we might as well apply it to the leadership race in the Conservative Party in 1993. I do not think he proposes that we do that.
The other thing he talked about was why it was being done at this late date. If it is that good, if it should have been done much earlier, he might agree that perhaps his party could have done it also. If we are to get into the question of timing, there is no reason why it could not have been done by the PC Party when it was in government.
In any event, I appreciate the fact that he is supportive generally of the principle and recognizes the need for transparency and disclosure, which is what this is.
In terms of corporations paying bonuses to their employees and officers, and then transferring it, there are strict provisions against that in the bill. I do not know if he is aware of that but it is important he know this.
Does he have any other proposals on how we could calculate funding or funding parties in a different way so we could be certain of that funding?