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Bill C-83

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First Reading

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Publication of electoral and election expense returns	412. (1) Within a year after the issue of a writ for an election, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, in the manner that he or she considers appropriate, publish the electoral campaign returns and the returns for general election expenses that candidates or registered parties provided to the Chief Electoral Officer under this Act.
Publication of returns on financial transactions	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, as soon as practicable after their receipt, publish the returns on financial transactions that registered parties provided to the Chief Electoral Officer under this Act in a manner that he or she considers appropriate.
Summary of return on candidates' election expenses	(3) As soon as is practicable after receiving candidates' electoral campaign returns in an election for each electoral district, the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish a summary report on those returns in the manner that he or she considers appropriate, including the maximum election expenses allowed for the electoral district and, for each candidate in the electoral district,
	(a) the total election expenses;
	(b) the total personal expenses;
	(c) the number of contributors and the overall total of contributions received;
	(d) the name of the official agent;
	(e) the name of the auditor; and
	(f) if it applies, an indication that the auditor's report on a return was qualified.
Publication of returns and statements of expenses of suspended parties	(4) As soon as is practicable after receiving from a suspended party a return on financial transactions under paragraph 392(a)(i) or a statement of expenses under paragraph 396(1)(a), the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish it in the manner that he or she considers appropriate.
Delivery to returning officers	413. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, as soon as is practicable, deliver a copy of the documents referred to in subsection 451(1) to the returning officer for the electoral district to which they relate.
Public availability	(2) A returning officer who receives documents under subsection (1) shall, on request, make them available for six months during reasonable times for public inspection. Copies may be obtained for a fee of $0.25 per page.
Retention	(3) A returning officer who receives documents under subsection (1) shall retain them for three years after the six-month period mentioned in subsection (2) or any shorter period that the Chief Electoral Officer considers appropriate.
	Inflation Adjustment Factor
Inflation adjustment fraction	414. Before April 1 in each year, the Chief Electoral Officer shall cause to be published in the Canada Gazette an inflation adjustment fraction that shall be in effect for one year from that date. The fraction shall have
	(a) a numerator that is the annual average Consumer Price Index, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, for the calender year immediately before that date, calculated on the basis of 1992 being equal to 100; and
	(b) a denominator that is 108.6, which is the annual average Consumer Price Index, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, for 1998, calculated on the basis of 1992 being equal to 100.
	DIVISION 3
	FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF REGISTERED PARTIES
	General
Duty of chief agent	415. The chief agent of a registered party is responsible for administering its financial transactions and for reporting on them, in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Prohibition - paying expenses	416. (1) No person or entity, other than the chief agent of a registered party or one of its registered agents or a person authorized under subsection 411(1), shall pay the registered party's expenses.
Prohibition - incurring expenses	(2) No person or entity, other than the chief agent of a registered party or one of its registered agents, shall incur the registered party's expenses.
	Processing of Expense Claims
Three months to send claim for payment	417. (1) A person who has a claim to be paid for an expense of a registered party shall, within three months after the expense was incurred, send the invoice or other document evidencing the claim to the registered party or one of its registered agents.
Bar to recovery	(2) A claimant is barred from recovery of a claim that is sent after the three-month period referred to in subsection (1).
Extended period for recovery after death of claimant	(3) Despite subsection (2), if a claimant with a recoverable claim dies, the three-month period leading to the barring of recovery of the payment begins to run on the day on which the claimant's legal representative becomes entitled to act for him or her.
Payment within six months	418. A recoverable claim to be paid for an expense of a registered party must be paid within six months after payment of the claim is due.
Irregular claims or payments - Chief Electoral Officer	419. (1) On the written application of a person who has a claim to be paid for an expense of a registered party or on the written application of a registered agent of the registered party in relation to such a claim, the Chief Electoral Officer may, on being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for so doing, in writing authorize the registered agent to pay the amount claimed if
	(a) the claim was not sent in accordance with subsection 417(1); or
	(b) the payment is to be made after the six-month period mentioned in section 418.
Terms and conditions	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer may fix any term or condition that he or she considers appropriate on a payment authorized under subsection (1).
Irregular claims or payments - judge	420. On the application of a person who has a claim to be paid for an expense of a registered party or of a registered agent of the registered party, a judge who is competent to conduct a recount, on being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for so doing, by order authorize the registered agent to pay the amount claimed if
	(a) the applicant establishes that an authorization under subsection 419(1) has been refused and that the claim was sent after the three-month period mentioned in subsection 417(1) or the payment has not been made in the six month period mentioned in section 418; or
	(b) the amount claimed has not been paid in accordance with an authorization obtained from the Chief Electoral Officer under subsection 419(1) and the applicant establishes that he or she was unable to comply with that authorization for reasons beyond his or her control.
Proceeding to recover claimed payments	421. A person who has made a recoverable claim mentioned in section 418 may commence a proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction
	(a) at any time to recover any unpaid amount of the payment, if a registered agent of the registered party refuses to pay that amount or disputes that it is payable; or
	(b) after the end of the six-month period mentioned in that section or any extension of that period authorized under subsection 419(1) or section 420, as the case may be, to recover any unpaid amount of the claim.
	Maximum Election Expenses
Maximum election expenses	422. (1) The maximum amount that is allowed for election expenses of a registered party during an election period is the product of
	(a) $0.62 multiplied by the number of names on all preliminary lists of electors at the election for electoral districts in which the registered party has endorsed a candidate, and
	(b) the inflation adjustment fraction published by the Chief Electoral Officer under section 414 that is in effect on the date of the issue of the writs for the election.
Amounts not included in election expenses	(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), an election expense of a registered party does not include any amount
	(a) for a contribution made by or on behalf of the registered party for the use of candidates in the election; or
	(b) incurred through a registered agent or through a person authorized under subsection 411(1), as the case may be, who was not acting within the scope of his or her authority.
Prohibition - election expenses	423. (1) No chief agent of a registered party shall incur more than the maximum amount calculated under section 422 for election expenses of the registered party during an election period.
Prohibition - collusion	(2) No registered party and no third party, within the meaning of section 349, shall collude with each other for the purpose of circumventing the spending limits allowed for election expenses of the registered party by a calculation made under section 422.
	Financial Reporting
Return on financial transactions	424. (1) For each fiscal period of a registered party, its chief agent shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with
	(a) a return, substantially in the prescribed form, on the registered party's financial transactions, other than election expenses in relation to a general election;
	(b) the auditor's report made to the chief agent under subsection 426(1); and
	(c) a declaration in the prescribed form by the chief agent concerning those financial transactions.
Contents of return	(2) A return referred to in paragraph (1)(a) must set out
	(a) a statement of contributions received from the following classes of contributor: individuals, businesses, commercial organizations, governments, trade unions, corporations without share capital other than trade unions, and unincorporated organizations or associations other than trade unions;
	(b) the number of contributors in each class listed in paragraph (a);
	(c) the name and address of each contributor of one or more contributions referred to in paragraph (a) that total more than $200 and the total amount of those contributions,
	(i) if they are made directly to the registered party, and
	(ii) to the extent that they are made to one of the registered party's electoral district associations and transferred to the registered party;
	(d) in the absence of information identifying a contributor referred to in subparagraph (c)(ii), the name and address of every contributor to that electoral district association by category specified in paragraph (a) that made one or more contributions that total more than $200 in the fiscal period to which the return relates, as if the contributions had been contributions for the use of the registered party;
	(e) a statement of contributions received from a trust fund of the registered party;
	(f) a statement of the registered party's assets and liabilities and any surplus or deficit, including a statement of
	(i) disputed claims under section 421, and
	(ii) unpaid claims that are, or may be, the subject of an application referred to in subsection 419(1) or section 420;
	(g) a statement of the registered party's revenues and expenses;
	(h) a statement, for each electoral district, of transfers of funds by the registered party to one of its electoral district associations or candidates;
	(i) a return for election expenses incurred for each by-election during the fiscal period that sets out as an election expense each of
	(i) the expenses incurred by the registered party, whether paid or unpaid, and
	(ii) non-monetary contributions used by the registered party;
	(j) a statement of loans or security received, including any conditions on them; and
	(k) a statement of contributions received but returned to the contributors or otherwise dealt with in accordance with this Act.
Loans	(3) For the purpose of subsection (2), other than paragraph (2)(k), a contribution includes a loan.
Period for providing documents	(4) The chief agent of a registered party shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the documents referred to in subsection (1) within six months after the end of the fiscal period to which the return relates.
When contributions forwarded to Receiver General	425. A registered agent of a registered party shall, without delay, pay an amount of money equal to the value of a contribution that the registered party receives, to the Chief Electoral Officer who shall forward it to the Receiver General, if
	(a) the registered agent cannot determine to which of the classes specified in paragraph 424(2)(a) the contributor belongs; or
	(b) the amount is more than $200 and the name or address of a contributor referred to in paragraph 424(2)(c) is not known.
Auditor's report	426. (1) For each fiscal period of a registered party, its auditor shall report to its chief agent on each return on its financial transactions and shall make any examination that will enable the auditor to state in the report his or her opinion whether the return presents fairly the information contained in the financial records on which the return is based.
Statement	(2) An auditor shall include in the report under subsection (1) any statement that he or she considers necessary if
	(a) the return that is the subject of the report does not present fairly the information contained in the financial records on which the return is based;
	(b) the auditor has not received from registered agents and officers of the registered party all of the information and explanation that he or she required; or
	(c) based on the examination, it appears that proper accounting records have not been kept by the registered party.
Right of access	(3) The auditor for a registered party shall have access at any reasonable time to all documents of the party, and may require the registered agents and officers of the party to provide any information or explanation that, in the auditor's opinion, may be necessary to enable the auditor to prepare his or her report under subsection (1).
Prohibition - financial reports	427. No chief agent of a registered party shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a return on financial transactions that
	(a) the chief agent knows or ought reasonably to know contains a materially false or misleading statement; or
	(b) does not substantially set out the information required by subsection 424(2).
	Trust Funds
Trust funds	428. (1) If a registered party establishes a trust fund, it shall
	(a) charge its chief agent, or one of its other registered agents, with responsibility for financial reporting to it on the fund; and
	(b) report on the financial transactions of the trust fund to the Chief Electoral Officer by annexing the financial report on it referred to in paragraph (a) to the return on its financial transactions under paragraph 424(1)(a).
Contents of report	(2) A financial report on a trust fund under subsection (1) must set out

Bill C-83

DIVISION 3

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF REGISTERED PARTIES