Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will need only five or six minutes for my opening remarks. The first part will be in French. The second part will be in English. I will switch only once, except for question period, obviously, if there is one. I always begin my remarks by saying what a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It does increase transparency and openness.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This approach is called a sunshine approach in the nomenclature, which is to say don't try to prevent it from happening; try to get the sun to shine on it. You let the sun shine on it by letting people know. If you're not going to prevent it, letting people know is always a good

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It has been in the statute to make a contribution of over $200—a net contribution, so if you remove the price of the meal and whatever else is included in organizing an event, then it's more than $200. I find it reasonable. I wasn't prepared to comment on that, but I will comment

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly, in terms of a contribution, the statute should apply, even if the person is not attending, which can occur. So in the particular circumstance you have described, I can see that it would be reasonable to simply state your name and the fact that there were one or two und

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To indicate that there were family members with you, who were less than 18 years of age, and the number of them, would be a reasonable compromise here.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, not all of them are going to be four years old. Some of them are going to be 16. Some of them are going to be 17. So maybe we should make the age lower. Maybe it should be age seven and under. You see what I'm saying. If there's going to be an exception, I would rather it b

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Or you could have a business associate who brings in another person, the son or daughter of someone else. If it's sunshine we want, then we have to make a decision about how far we go. It would be important to release that information, without naming if you don't want the name

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, if this is the main occupation of the personal support worker and obviously if they did not make a contribution beyond $200.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's not easy, but I would certainly say chiefs of staff of the Prime Minister or ministers, senior assistants, senior policy assistants, and things like that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I had my druthers, I would say the penalty is double what you picked up, end of story, so that we would have a real deterrent to this occurring, to people not following the law. There has to be something major and important about not following the Canada Elections Act in terms

Procedure and House Affairs committee  During an election, the commissioner can investigate a matter that is ongoing when it's brought to his or her attention and can then obtain a cease and desist order against the people who are committing it on the basis that if they stop doing it right now, we will not be proceedi

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I agree. That's what I was saying. This whole bill raises the question of the timeliness of all reporting of all contributions during the campaign. One could say, with respect to political parties that have representation in the House, that this applies; for others, because the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know how easy it would be politically, but I leave that up to you. Technically, yes, it would be an amendment to the statute.