Procedure and House Affairs committee  To be frank I have not worked out all the details of this. I can certainly say that the way it works right now with the arbitrator, as it is with the boundaries commission, is that he does his own thing. He's the one who convenes the parties for example to allocate the broadcast

Procedure and House Affairs committee  His main role is very limited, but it's a role that can be critical during an election. He does two things. First, he applies a formula in the act for the allocation of free and paid time. That formula is in the act. A recommendation was made to this committee to review that and

Procedure and House Affairs committee  During an election there may be situations where there may be conflict regarding the purchase of time, whether a broadcaster makes available the right time at the right moment, or there may be issues between the broadcaster and the party, and he would serve as an arbitrator in th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct. It's very similar.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  These are not my criteria, but there have been proposals made regarding the percentage of votes received in the last election or the number of candidates who ran, these kinds of objective criteria. I like the idea that was suggested by Mr. Fox, who came last week, that if you mee

Procedure and House Affairs committee  My recommendation would be that he or she not have any authority. He or she would be applying fairly mechanical criteria set out by Parliament. There may be situations where you need to have some form of residual discretion, but I would remove that from the commissioner to all ex

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It depends. Again, that is why, at the outset, I asked what objectives you are trying to pursue. I think you have to work from the objectives up, and see how a commission can assist in pursuing those objectives. In my view, I do not see the commissioner as having a role in carvi

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I see no reason why the commission or commissioner would not have broad latitude. To the extent that the commission is involved in editorial aspects of the debates and so forth, it must be equipped with the proper expertise. We were talking earlier about the broadcasting arbitrat

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have no particular view on that. I think that's one model. Another model is to have an advisory group of people from various walks of life that could assist the commission in making sure that, in their choices, they're reflecting the needs and interests of a range of people.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I may disappoint you. I don't have a strong opinion on that in the sense that I do think that's a fundamental policy decision for Parliament. I do think I could certainly administer such a regime. You may want to consider whether the mere fact of having created a commission, sh

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We do have 15. We were up to 23 in the last election. It tends to go up as you get closer to the election. I suspect that next year we'll see additional parties registered.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do not know the answer to that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think so. I think that's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's 2%, or 5% in the ridings in which the party supports candidates. It's dual criteria.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.