Procedure and House Affairs committee  There's the Chief Electoral Officer. The ruling party can select that person now with just a majority vote in the House. No consultation is even required with opposition parties. As you may know, we have a court case right now challenging the Ethics Commissioner's appointment and

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to testify before you today. I am testifying here in my role as co-founder of Democracy Watch, which, if you are not aware, is a citizen advocacy group. We've been working since 1993 to make Canada the world's

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I didn't mention this in my complaint to the Commissioner of Lobbying, but I think I should follow up on it in that there is a requirement under the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct to lobby in a way that meets the highest ethical standards. I think sending out a letter like that would

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's a limit on ad spending during that 90-day period. Democracy Watch and the coalition's position is that a four- to six-month period is entirely appropriate. They're doing three months, and extending that even further is entirely appropriate. What B.C. has done is that if you

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Democracy Watch's proposal is that in between elections, there would be disclosure of how much each lobbyist or lobby group is spending on their campaigns. This is something we've proposed now for 24 years to the federal government. When we see that disclosure, if we see that o

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you for the opportunity, and I wish you luck in your deliberations.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The $100 donation limit would cost nothing.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If public financing were put in—and again, we think the case has to be made for it as well—our proposal is to start with a $100 donation limit and see where the parties are at after a year. I think you'd find they were just fine. Some of them will be suffering, but only because t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't think very much at all. I appreciate that for some candidates it would be difficult, but leadership candidates do a disclosure every month leading up to the final week. If it were just one disclosure that had to be prepared a week before election day through an Internet

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the leadership race, if you were to get more than $10,000 in that last week, then you'd have to do one final disclosure. You could do the same thing for candidates. You're talking about $100 donation limits, so if they're not getting significant amounts in, the disclosure woul

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Democracy Watch filed complaints with the federal Ethics Commissioner and the Commissioner of Lobbying about the Council of Canadian Innovators' appeal to its members, and also its lobbying activities overall. They're registered to lobby Chrystia Freeland's department. They have

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, that's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, sure. I'm human.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  He hasn't donated in quite a long time—he lends his name—but yes, I think if Dan Aykroyd called, for a whole bunch of reasons I would take the call.