Government Introduces Changes to Make Electoral System More Fair and
Transparent
The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Minister of Internal Trade, Deputy
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Minister responsible for
Official Languages and Associate Minister of National Defence, today introduced
amendments to the Canada Elections Act
which will make Canada’s election system more fair and transparent with respect to the participation of
third parties.
“In
2004, Canada
gave
itself a modern set of rules to govern the financing of political parties”,
said Minister Bélanger. “Today,
the Government is moving to level the playing field even further by ensuring
that third parties cannot be used as an alternate vehicle for the influence of
money in elections.”
Third parties are individuals or groups other than candidates and
registered political parties that use various means to express their views
during an election campaign, either at the constituency or national level. The
Canada Elections Act offers a legal
framework for the participation of third parties in election campaigns. In
January, 2004, contributions to registered political parties were limited with
the coming-into-force of Bill C-24. The
amendments presented today aim to impose the same rigour with respect to the
rules governing the financing of third party activities.
The proposed amendments limit the amount of funds raised by a third party
that can be used for the purpose of election advertising during a campaign. Currently,
the CEA sets at $168,000 (current 2005
dollars) the total amount a third party can spend on election advertising during
a writ period. While this threshold
is maintained, it is proposed that a third party could only use to cover its
election advertising expenses up to $5,000 from contributions from a single
individual, and up to $1,000 from any one organization, where those
contributions were made during the period starting six months before the issuing
of the writs and ending on polling day. This
would not affect the ability of third parties from using their own revenues to
fund election advertising activities. Moreover,
these amendments will not affect the ability of third parties to carry out
general fundraising, for money that is not intended to be used for election
advertising.
Further, in order to prevent abuse of third parties as a means to
circumvent spending limits, it is proposed that anti-collusion provisions in the
CEA be strengthened and that donations
for election advertising made intentionally by a single contributor for a total
amount that is in excess of the spending limit for third parties, would be
prohibited.
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For information:
Shawn Salewski
Office of the Honourable Mauril Bélanger
(613) 952-6732
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