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Bill C-83

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First Reading

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	(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;
	(d) a statement of contributions received from the registered party or its electoral district associations, by electoral district;
	(e) a statement of the trust fund's assets and liabilities and any surplus or deficit;
	(f) a statement of revenues and expenses;
	(g) a statement, for each electoral district, of transfers of funds by the trust fund to an electoral district association or candidate of the registered party;
	(h) a statement of loans or security received, including any conditions on them; and
	(i) 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)(i), a contribution includes a loan.
	Election Expenses Reporting
Return on election expenses	429. (1) For a general election, the chief agent of a registered party shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with
	(a) a return on the registered party's general election expenses in the general election that substantially is in the prescribed form;
	(b) the auditor's report referred to in subsection 430(1) on that return; and
	(c) a declaration by the chief agent concerning those election expenses, in the prescribed form.
Contents of return	(2) A return referred to in paragraph (1)(a) must set out as an election expense each of
	(a) the expenses incurred by the registered party, whether paid or unpaid; and
	(b) the non-monetary contributions used by the registered party.
Period for providing documents	(3) The chief agent of a registered party shall provide the documents referred to in subsection (1) to the Chief Electoral Officer within six months after the polling day for the general election.
Auditor's report on return on election expenses	430. (1) As soon as practicable after a general election, the auditor of a registered party shall report to its chief agent on its return on general election expenses and shall make any examination that will enable the auditor to state in the report his or her opinion as to whether the report 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 or officers of the party all 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 registered 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).
Prohibi- tions - true and complete returns	431. No chief agent of a registered party shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with a return on the registered party's general election expenses 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 429(2).
	Corrections and Extended Reporting Periods
Minor corrections - Chief Electoral Officer	432. The Chief Electoral Officer may make a correction in a return provided under paragraph 424(1)(a) or 429(1)(a) or in an updated version of either of them if the correction does not materially affect the substance of the return.
Extension or correction - Chief Electoral Officer	433. (1) On the written application of the chief agent of a registered party or, if there is no chief agent, its leader, the Chief Electoral Officer may authorize
	(a) an extension of the six-month period within which a document referred to in subsection 424(1) or 429(1) must be provided; or
	(b) that a correction be made to a document referred to in subsection 424(1) or 429(1) within the period that the Chief Electoral Officer may specify.
Grounds	(2) An authorization under subsection (1) may not be issued unless the evidence submitted to support it satisfies the Chief Electoral Office that the matters referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) arose, despite the good faith of the applicant, by reason of
	(a) the absence, death, illness or misconduct of the chief agent or a predecessor;
	(b) the absence, death, illness or misconduct of a registered agent of the registered party or of an agent, a clerk or an officer of the chief agent, or a predecessor of one of them; or
	(c) inadvertence or an honest mistake of fact.
Extension or correction - judge	434. (1) A chief agent of a registered party or, if there is no chief agent, its leader, may apply to a judge who is competent to conduct a recount for an order granting an authorization that the applicant has applied for under subsection 433(1).
Grounds	(2) The judge may not grant the order unless he or she is satisfied that the grounds referred to in subsection 433(2) apply and the application under subsection 433(1) has been
	(a) refused; or
	(b) granted but not complied with because of a circumstance beyond the applicant's control.
Contents of order	(3) An order under subsection (1) may require that the applicant satisfy any condition that the judge considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act, as a precondition to granting the authorization.
	Reimbursement of Election Expenses
Certificate	435. (1) On receipt from a registered party of the documents referred to in subsection 429(1), the Chief Electoral Officer shall provide the Receiver General with a certificate that sets out the amount that is 22.5% of the registered party's election expenses that were paid by its registered agents as set out in the return for its general election expenses, if
	(a) the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied that the registered party and its chief agent have complied with the requirements of sections 429 to 434;
	(b) the auditor's report does not include a statement referred to in subsection 430(2); and
	(c) candidates endorsed by the registered party received at least
	(i) 2% of the number of valid votes cast at the election, or
	(ii) 5% of the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts in which the registered party endorsed a candidate.
Reimburse- ment	(2) On receipt of the certificate, the Receiver General shall reimburse the amount set out in it to the registered party by paying that amount out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
	DIVISION 4
	FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF CANDIDATES
	Powers, Duties and Functions of Official Agents
Duty of official agent	436. The official agent of a candidate is responsible for administering the candidate's financial transactions for his or her electoral campaign and for reporting on them in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Election account	437. (1) An official agent of a candidate shall open a separate bank account, to be known as an election account, in a Canadian financial institution as defined in section 2 of the Bank Act, that indicates the year of opening the account and has the account holder named as follows: ``(name of official agent), official agent for (name of candidate, year)''.
Payments and receipts	(2) All financial transactions of the candidate in relation to an electoral campaign that involve the payment or receipt of money are to be paid from or deposited to the election account.
Close of election account	(3) An official agent of a candidate shall close the election account after the election or after the withdrawal of the candidate or the candidate's death, once any surplus has been disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Final statement of election account	(4) The official agent shall, on closing the election account, provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the final statement of the election account.
Prohibition - making contributions	438. (1) No person or entity, other than an electoral district association, shall make
	(a) a contribution to a candidate's electoral campaign that comes from money, property or the services of another person or entity; or
	(b) a loan to a candidate's electoral campaign that comes from money of another person or entity.
Prohibition - accepting contributions	(2) No person, other than an official agent of a candidate, shall accept contributions to the candidate's electoral campaign.
Prohibition - issuing tax receipts	(3) No person, other than an official agent of a candidate, shall provide official receipts to contributors of monetary contributions for the purpose of subsection 127(3) of the Income Tax Act.
Prohibition - paying electoral expenses	(4) No person or entity, other than the official agent of a candidate, shall pay expenses in relation to the candidate's electoral campaign except for petty expenses referred to in section 411 and the candidate's personal expenses.
Prohibition - incurring electoral expenses	(5) No person or entity, other than a candidate, his or her official agent or a person authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts, shall incur expenses in relation to the candidate's electoral campaign.
Prohibition - candidate's personal expenses	(6) No person, other than a candidate or his or her official agent, shall pay the candidate's personal expenses.
Exception	(7) Subsection (4) or (5), as the case may be, does not apply to a registered agent of a registered party who pays or incurs expenses in relation to the electoral campaign of the leader of the registered party.
	Notice of Nomination Meeting
Limits on expenses	439. (1) The amount that may be spent on providing notice of meetings that are to be held for the principal purpose of nominating a candidate for an election in an electoral district cannot be more than 1% of the maximum election expenses
	(a) that were allowed for a candidate in that electoral district during the immediately preceding general election, if the boundaries for the electoral district have not changed since then; or
	(b) that the Chief Electoral Officer determines, in any other case.
Prohibition on official agents, candidates and authorized persons	(2) No candidate, official agent of a candidate or person who is authorized under paragraph 446(c) to enter into contracts shall incur, or cause to be incurred, expenses on account of notices referred to in subsection (1) that are in excess of the amount determined under that subsection.
	Limit on Election Expenses
Maximum election expenses allowed	440. The maximum amount that is allowed for a candidate's expenses in an electoral district is the product of the base amount for an electoral district determined under section 441 and the inflation adjustment fraction referred to in section 414 as of the day of the issue of the writ.
Base amount of expenses	441. (1) The base amount of election expenses for an electoral district is the total of
	(a) $2.07 for each of the first 15,000 names that appear on the preliminary lists of electors for the electoral district,
	(b) $1.04 for each of the names that appear on those preliminary lists after the 15,000th name and on or before the 25,000th name, and
	(c) $0.52 for each of the names that appear on the preliminary lists after the 25,000th name.
Less than average population districts	(2) If the number of names that appear on the preliminary lists of electors for an electoral district is less than the average, based on all electoral districts in a general election or, in the case of a by-election, in the immediately preceding general election, then, for the purpose of subsection (1), that number is deemed to increase to the number that is half-way between it and that average.
Low population-de nsity districts	(3) If the average number of electors per square kilometre in an electoral district, based on the number of names of electors that appear on the preliminary lists of electors for the electoral district, is less than 10, the base amount for that electoral district is the total of
	(a) the amount determined under subsection (1), and
	(b) the amount determined by
	(i) the aggregate of $0.31 for each square kilometre in the electoral district, if that aggregate is less than or equal to 25% of the amount referred to in paragraph (a), or
	(ii) 25% of the amount referred to in paragraph (a), in any other case.
Death of candidate of registered party	(4) If a candidate for an electoral district whose nomination was endorsed by a registered party dies in the period beginning at 2:00 p.m. on the 5th day before the closing day for nominations and ending on polling day, the base amount for that electoral district increases to one and one-half times the amount determined in accordance with the other provisions of this section.
Estimated expenses	442. (1) On October 15 in each year, the Chief Electoral Officer shall determine an estimate of the maximum election expenses calculated under section 440, based on the lists of electors in the Register of Electors, that would be allowed for each electoral district if an election were then held.
Availability of estimates	(2) The estimated maximum amount for an electoral district must be sent
	(a) to any person on request; and
	(b) along with the electronic copy of the lists of electors for that electoral district, to the member of the House of Commons for that electoral district and to each registered party that endorsed a candidate in that electoral district in the last election.

Bill C-83

DIVISION 4

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF CANDIDATES