Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to continue today's debate on the motion tabled by the member for Hamilton Centre. I will start by saying that we are not opposed to this motion. We certainly are supporting Elections Canada's ongoing work by making available all of our records from the last election.

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, our government is delivering a principled, reasonable and fair bill for all Canadians with the fair representation act. It is truly a national formula. The opposition has brought forward alternatives. I thank those members for contributing to the debate, but I believe that in their attempt to score political points they are ignoring the real consequences of their proposals.

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question and also his work on the committee. The committee did great work on this bill. As he said, it is important that we pass the bill as soon as possible. The commissions will start their work in February and we need this new formula in place to avoid duplication of their work.

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, we will commit to ensuring that the process of redrawing the boundaries continues to be independent, non-partisan, and at arm's length of the government at all times. This bill presents a formula to give seats to the different provinces. In February the process will begin for the independent non-partisan commission to look at where the population is and to redraw those boundaries.

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals came to the table with a proposal that would essentially pick winners and losers, and pit provinces against other provinces. Their proposal would hurt the representation of rural Canadians. They have no plan for what would happen in the future with population growth or what we would do with those provinces that have already hit their seat floor.

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, the main problem, and the problem we are addressing, is the under-representation of the fastest growing provinces. We made a commitment to Canadians that we would address that. Those fastest growing provinces represent 60% of the population. Those populations include women, aboriginals, new Canadians and visible minorities who happen to live in those provinces more so than the other provinces.

Fair Representation Act  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's comments and his input on debate on the bill. From the entire opposition we have had good debate on the bill. As I mentioned in my speech, the opposition has come forward with proposals. We have discussed those proposals, including the government's proposal, here in the House of Commons.

Fair Representation Act  moved that Bill C-20, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and the Canada Elections Act, be read the third time and passed. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to begin the last stage of debate today on the government's Bill C-20, the fair representation act.

Fair Representation Act  moved that the bill be concurred in.

Fair Representation Act  Madam Speaker, I have a few questions for the hon. member. The member talked about numbers. Members have the numbers on how many seats will go to which provinces. Where is the NDP plan? Where are the numbers? Why do the NDP members not talk about the number of seats they are proposing?

Senate Reform  Mr. Speaker, this government received a strong mandate from Canadians to reform the Senate. The status quo in the Senate is unacceptable. Senators can serve terms of up to 45 years without a democratic mandate from Canadians. Canadians find that unacceptable. We ask the opposition to support this bill and change the Senate, and not support the status quo in the Senate.

Senate Reform  Mr. Speaker, Canadians want a say in who represents them in the Senate and we are providing an opportunity for Canadians to have a say in who represents them in the Senate. The Senate itself must change in order to reach its full potential as an accountable and democratic institution.

Political Loans Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, I look forward to working with the member on this bill and having further discussion. The fact is it is not only banks, but it is other financial institutions as well. Not just that, it is friends, family, supporters, the average Canadian who has the ability to make donations or to lend money, or even to guarantee money within the contribution limits.

Political Loans Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, it has been good to work with the hon. member. We will have good discussions on this bill. The member raised the point about how some people have a house that they could possibly get collateral on, but others may not. He then said maybe a relative could provide a loan.

Political Loans Accountability Act  Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his question and insight into this issue. Absolutely, the return for candidates who receive that level of voting, 60%, is some insurance to banks. However, at the end of the day, political parties can loan money to an electoral riding association or other EDAs can also loan money to another riding association.