Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I stated many times in my appearances in Ontario and I have stated here, I am a believer in a balance between public and private financing. There are many models, and prior to my appearance here, I reviewed the models of some of the other individuals who appeared here. Mr. Con

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That is based on the fact that, for a number of years, electoral management bodies, Elections Ontario and Elections Canada, have a great number of historical records and information based on fundraising activities and on the amounts that both candidates and political parties have

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was approached by the Attorney General to consider whether I would sit on the committee. I established a set of parameters under which I would consider it, as an adviser. As an independent officer of the legislature, I was there simply to advise the committee on what deputants

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Ontario undertook a unique process—my understanding is it's the only process in the country—whereby every quarter constituency associations divvy up $6,250 based on the previous election's results. If party A received 40% of the vote, it will receive 40% of the funding. There was

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do support that, because, as the provision is worded in our act, candidates can be nominated by their party but are not considered registered candidates until they register with Elections Ontario. There is thus a gap period. This means that you can be the nominated candidate an

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm sorry?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Oh, chiefs of staff to ministers, yes, I do support that; for non-ministers, I don't.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe the genesis of this was really several media articles that dominated the newspapers in Toronto and other parts of Ontario, which identified the current government as having what were deemed cash for access events. There would be private dinners with substantive amounts

Procedure and House Affairs committee  From my perspective, Ontario has created the right balance. We need to go through a complete electoral cycle to do a complete assessment of that, but I sat on the committee and travelled the province and listened to the concerns that Ontarians raised throughout the deliberations,

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would not disagree with your last statement. I have been a big believer and I articulated three times before the committee in Ontario that I am a big supporter of a balance between private and public funding. I would by no means suggest that we should eliminate the opportunity

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think there are many elements of the bill and provisions that provide much greater transparency, which I'm very supportive of. Having events being publicized five days in advance, I think, provides greater transparency. Reporting who has attended those events to the Chief Elect

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be my testimony, my recommendation. I would base this on some statistical facts that I brought for the committee's consideration. We have just completed the third quarter of 2017, and we've now done a review of the first three quarters of 2016 versus 2017 from a fund

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would like to begin by thanking the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for inviting me to provide my observations on Bill C-50, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act with respect to political financing. I welcome the chance to offer my insights and advice on t

Electoral Reform committee  I could definitely see that this is a possibility. I think that's why you're seeing campaigns in Ontario and other jurisdictions in which candidates run as “none of the above”. Even here in Ontario, we had a candidate change his name to “ZNoneofthe, Above”, so that we he could ru