Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, we introduced Bill C-76, which will create a pre-election period before the general election. We have also made commitments as a government, since the government cannot run ads in the 90 days preceding a general election.

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite's assertion is absolutely false. We are doing everything we can to ensure that we do not have foreign funding within our elections here in Canada. In fact, it is already illegal for foreign entities or individuals to contribute to political part

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely aghast that the member opposite is fearmongering in this way. We take foreign influence in our elections extraordinarily seriously, including with regard to foreign funds, which is what we are doing in this legislation to ensure that it will be limite

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as you know, we introduced Bill C-76 and we hope we can work with all of our House of Commons colleagues to improve democracy so Canadians can vote. Many Canadians, 176 in fact, were not able to vote in the last election. This is a real problem for future voters. Wha

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as I told my hon. colleague in committee, Bill C-76 does not limit travel at all. When he is talking about advertising, it limits it for any party during the period, and that is only with regard to advertising. Perhaps he is thinking about a previous Conservative min

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, the Prime Minister has tasked me and our government to ensure that we defend Canada's next federal election against cyber-threats. It is also important that we ensure we look for new ways to deal with data and digital breaches. That is why

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as I have already said in the House many times, the Prime Minister did not tell Elections Canada to put this bill forward. What happened is that this government, like every other previous government except the former Conservative government, consulted Elections Canad

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, it is the party opposite that is misrepresenting the facts. Elections Canada was consulted on this, and in fact said that it would of course be respecting the will of the House. However, it is also this government that indeed believes in giving Canadians the right t

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member opposite is referring to a former minister who wore a partisan shirt while announcing the universal child care benefit. We have committed to ensuring that we have a pre-electoral period where we do have regulated spending. I hope that the mem

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, Bill C-76 does a lot to ensure that we have integrity in our elections. In fact, it returns the commissioner of Elections Canada to Elections Canada, something the previous government took away. It also enables the commissioner of Elections Canada to lay charges, som

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the other side keeps talking about rigging elections. The other side seems to forget that 400 academics signed a petition asking them to stop Bill C-23 when they were in power. Why was that? It was because they were worried that the Conservatives were going to circum

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague must know, I recently had a baby, and I also want my kids to grow up in a democratic country. This is important to me. Robocalls, in and out scandals, $250,000 bonuses, and an MP being sent to prison do not reflect respect for democracy. What am

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, let us set the record straight. The previous government, when it came to elections legislation, refused to consult Elections Canada on developing that legislation. What we did is something that governments, until the Harper Conservatives came along, did from time unt

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague clearly did not listen to the answer I just gave, so I invite him to re-watch that. However, one thing I would like to point out is that in terms of rigging elections, that was what the previous Conservative government was trying to do when it too

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, when it comes to ensuring we have integrity in our system, that is exactly why we have ensured that the CEO of Elections Canada has a mandate to inform Canadians about elections, something the previous government took away. We also gave the commissioner of Elections