Procedure and House Affairs committee  I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to address the bill. The Green Party of Canada is especially grateful for the time allotted to prepare for this appearance. A good portion of this bill is not so much modernization but rather restoration of the Canada Elections

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We exist in a society with many different ages of majority. You need to be 16 years old before you can drive a car; 16 years old before you can enlist in the reserves; but 18 years before you can drink or vote. I find it an interesting dichotomy where you need to be older to be a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Right. It becomes a classification question. The bill, as it currently presents, presents that there are three different times that election spending can fall into: writ, pre-writ, and none of the above. It seems to make sense to us that there should be only two categorizations:

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, on the amount of the spending limit, we can look at formulations. This becomes a bit more of the minutiae. In non-writ periods there should be a spending limit, and perhaps that spending limit should be adjusted to reflect the entire period outside of the writ period. This

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's for the much larger parties or third party interest groups.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it would be simpler not only for the voters but also for parties and everyone acting in an election process and exercising their right to express their opinions, if everyone had the same dates in mind, and everyone was operating from the same calendar. From this certain d

Procedure and House Affairs committee  On the question on limits, I'll defer to this panel, because from what I understand, and I'm not a constitutional expert, there are constitutional considerations for third party groups or individuals expressing their points of view versus the case for political parties, so—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am not a constitutional expert but from what I understand, there are implications for third party groups in that regard.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It was a tongue-in-cheek bit of sarcasm. Obviously, I am here. I feel well enough prepared for the questions you'll ask, so let's continue.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I myself was brought into the loop a little over 28 hours ago.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In my area of work, which is more private sector than public, there's always a question of risk versus reward. Is the risk of further delaying the execution of this bill worth the reward of ironing out some of the kinks or problems within the bill itself? The Green Party of Cana

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, it becomes risk-reward. If some of the modifications don't require huge administrative overhaul within Elections Canada, I would say that statement is accurate. If it requires significant changes to how Elections Canada is operating and the assumptions they're running on t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Unfortunately, the burden of that decision falls on you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In June 2011, the Conservative Party of Canada was hacked. Their donor database, with addresses and email addresses, was exposed. This has happened—