Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed working with the member on the procedure and House affairs committee.
The member is exactly right. We have seen instances where nomination contests have been exploited by foreign actors. We saw that in 2019 in Don Valley North, and we have seen it in other ridings. This is something that needs to be addressed. Frankly, it is long overdue. At the procedure and House affairs committee, we had something like 70 meetings on foreign interference, in which this came up frequently.
The bill does extend certain offences to nomination contests, and quite appropriately so. However, I would add that the government can do a lot more, including getting the foreign influence registry up and running. The government said that it was going to be up and running in June 2025, then by the fall of 2025, then by the end of the year, and it is still not up and running. It needs to be set up and operating as soon as possible.