Mr. Speaker, we first have to understand that this act would give first nations an element of choice. There would be no gun to anyone's head to join. It would be totally up to first nation communities to decide whether they wanted to be part and parcel of the act.
Both the AMC and the APC have recommended the development of new and optional first nations elections. They want to provide a term of office of four years rather than two. They want to allow first nations to line up their terms of office and have a common election day. They want to provide more processes for the nomination of candidates. They want to provide a mail-in ballot system that is less susceptible to fraud and abuse. They want to remove the role of the minister in receiving, investigating and deciding election appeals, and they want to define and set out election offences and penalties that would reflect this interpretation of the act.
It is an act of choice; it is not one of dictatorial direction. Each community would have its own election to decide whether it wanted to belong to this new act.