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Advisory Committee of Political Parties – Meeting Summary – June 18 and 19, 2018

7. Legislative Update - Political Financing

Anne Lawson, General Counsel and Senior Director, Legal Services and Trevor Knight, Senior Counsel, Legal Services, presented the second part of the legislative update, which focused on the implications of Bill C-50 and Bill C-76 on political financing and the enforcement of the Act. Anne Lawson reviewed the changes enacted through Bill C-50, which would come into force in December 2018. These changes related to the advertising and reporting regime for fundraising events attended by Ministers, party leaders, or leadership contestants; and the harmonization of rules used to contest expenses of nomination contestants and leadership contestants with the rules applicable to election expenses of candidates. Presenters also reviewed the implications of Bill C-76 for political financing, including: the regulation of pre-writ spending limits, the new third-party regime, additions and changes to expense categories, EDA activities, audit report requirements, ticketed fundraising events and conventions, and expense incursion authorization. Updates on C-76 requirements also included the following topics: OGI production timelines, privacy policy publication requirements, the return the Office of the Commissioner to Elections Canada, and the power to compel witnesses and lay charges or impose Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) for offences committed under the Act. Implementation timelines were also explained to the committee.

Questions revolved around the definition of a third-party, for which the CEO provided clarification of what was included in the legislation. There were questions on financing limits for eligible parties, partisan advertising during the pre-writ and writ period, administrative monetary penalties, criminal sanctions and the overall complaints regime. Questions were also raised on accessibility expenses.