Procedure and House Affairs committee  Basically at the present time, the Director of Public Prosecutions has that power.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's not what Bill C-23says.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not sure I would argue the way you argue, because at the end of the day, somebody is appointing the Director of Public Prosecutions and somebody is appointing the.... So if the appointment means you're not independent, it's just not correct. In the case of the Director of Pub

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't think that is practical. I have seen enough elections to tell you that it is unrealistic to say that the Chief Electoral Officer or whoever is responsible for an election in a riding or municipality will be able to find enough staff within the required timeframe. I believ

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Are you talking about moving up the date of the list?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the legislation goes too far. It's important that Elections Canada have the ability to promote, in essence, the electoral process in schools and so on, and that it has the ability to conduct research. I would suggest to you that if you look at what the U.K. has done in th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think historically the major changes from an ethical point of view were brought when ceilings were put on expenditures. At that time it was a minority government, so you had to have the backing of other parties to do it. That came out of the Watergate hearings in the U.S. It w

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There is a difference between what would be preferable and what you can do. This is a law, and Parliament decides.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think these hearings are useful in that sense. In some areas it would have been useful to have better research to back up some of the decisions. Some was done with respect to the robocalls, and I think the reports by the experts and so on have been very helpful in guiding the l

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's your problem as an MP.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think I would take the question more broadly. I'm quite neutral about the issue of bringing the commissioner under the Director of Public Prosecutions. I don't think the arguments that have been made against that hold a lot of water. There are two issues that could be correct

Procedure and House Affairs committee  On the question about the exception, the exception is not about the amount; it is about the fact that an activity that is going to take place during an electoral campaign that is fundamentally about politics is being excluded. That is what is wrong. Given the almost impossibility

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the issue of vouching and the issue of the information card or whatever are two different issues. In the case of vouching the person vouching needs to be identified as to their own identity and so on. In essence every head of an electoral commission would basically tell y

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, first I'd like to thank you for the invitation to testify before your committee. The Canada Elections Act is one of the few federal statutes that is consulted and used by a large number of Canadians. Whenever elections are held, thousands of Canadians must be able