Bill C-24

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	(a) each candidate, including one who has withdrawn under subsection 74(1), who the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied has provided the documents under section 451 and returned any unused forms referred to in section 477, in accordance with subsection 478(2); and
	(2) Subsection 468(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Payment	(2) On receipt of the certificate, the Receiver General shall pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund the amount of each listed candidate's nomination deposit to his or her official agent. The payment may be made to the person designated by the official agent.
	52. Paragraph 469(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(a) he or she is deemed for the purpose of section 464 to receive 10% of the valid votes cast in the electoral district in which he or she was a candidate; and
	53. (1) Paragraph 470(1)(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(b) each candidate is deemed to have obtained 10% of the votes that would have been validly cast at that deemed election; and
	(2) The portion of paragraph 470(1)(c) of the Act before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:
	(c) on receipt of a certificate referred to in section 464 or 465, the Receiver General shall pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the candidate's official agent - or may alternatively pay to the person designated by the agent - the lesser of
	54. Paragraphs 471(3)(a) and (b) of the Act are replaced by the following:
	(a) any funds that the candidate transfers, during the election, to a registered party or a registered association;
	(b) any amount of a reimbursement referred to in paragraphs (2)(b) and (c) that the candidate transfers to that registered party; and
	(c) any funds transferred by the candidate under paragraph 404.2(2)(d).
	55. Paragraph 473(2)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(a) in the case of a candidate who was endorsed by a registered party, to that party or to the registered association of that party in the candidate's electoral district; or
	56. Section 476 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Prohibition - transfer of contributions	476. No registered agent of a registered party, financial agent of a registered association or financial agent of a nomination contestant shall transfer funds to a candidate after polling day except to pay claims related to the candidate's electoral campaign.
	57. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 478:
	Division 5
	Nomination Contest Report and Financial Administration of Nomination Contestants
	Nomination Contest Report
Definitions	478.01 The definitions in this section apply in this Division.
``personal expenses'' « dépense personnelle »	``personal expenses'' means the expenses that are reasonably incurred by or on behalf of a nomination contestant in relation to a nomination campaign and include
	(a) travel and living expenses;
	(b) childcare expenses;
	(c) expenses relating to the provision of care for a person with a physical or mental incapacity for whom the contestant normally provides such care; and
	(d) in the case of a contestant who has a disability, additional personal expenses that are related to the disability.
``selection date'' « date de désignation »	``selection date'' means the date on which a nomination contest is decided.
Notice of nomination contest	478.02 (1) When a nomination contest is held, the registered party, or the registered association if the contest was held by the registered association, shall, within 30 days after the selection date, file with the Chief Electoral Officer a report setting out
	(a) the name of the electoral district, the registered association and the registered party that the nomination contest concerns;
	(b) the date on which the nomination contest began and the selection date;
	(c) the name and address of each nomination contestant as of the selection date and of his or her financial agent; and
	(d) the name of the person selected in the nomination contest.
Notice	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, in the manner that he or she considers appropriate, communicate to each nomination contestant the information related to that contestant that was reported under subsection (1).
Publication	(3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, in the manner that he or she considers appropriate, publish a notice containing the information referred to in subsection (1).
Deeming	478.03 For the purposes of this Part, a nomination contestant is deemed to have been a nomination contestant from the time he or she accepts a contribution or incurs a nomination campaign expense.
Duty to appoint financial agent	478.04 No nomination contestant shall, in relation to his or her nomination campaign, accept contributions or incur nomination campaign expenses unless he or she has appointed a financial agent.
Agents - ineligible persons	478.05 (1) The following persons are not eligible to be the financial agent of a nomination contestant:
	(a) an election officer or a member of the staff of a returning officer;
	(b) a candidate or a nomination contestant;
	(c) an auditor appointed as required by this Act;
	(d) a person who is not an elector;
	(e) an undischarged bankrupt; and
	(f) a person who does not have the capacity to enter into contracts in the province in which the person ordinarily resides.
Where member of partnership appointed as agent	(2) A person may be appointed as agent for a nomination contestant notwithstanding that the person is a member of a partnership that has been appointed as an auditor, in accordance with the Act for the registered party.
Consent	478.06 A nomination contestant shall obtain from the financial agent, on appointment, their signed consent to so act.
Replacement of financial agent	478.07 In the event of the death, incapacity, resignation or revocation of the appointment of the financial agent, a nomination contestant shall without delay appoint a replacement.
Only one financial agent	478.08 A nomination contestant shall have no more than one financial agent at a time.
Prohibition - agents	478.09 No person who is not eligible to be the financial agent of a nomination contestant shall so act.
Changes in reported information	478.1 (1) Within 30 days after a change in the information referred to in paragraph 478.02(1)(c), a nomination contestant shall report the change in writing to the Chief Electoral Officer.
New financial agent	(2) A report under subsection (1) that involves the replacement of the financial agent of the nomination contestant must include a copy of the signed consent under section 478.06.
	Financial Administration of Nomination Contestants
	Powers, Duties and Functions of Financial Agent
Duty of financial agent	478.11 The financial agent of a nomination contestant is responsible for administering the contestant's financial transactions for his or her nomination campaign and for reporting on those transactions in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Bank account	478.12 (1) The financial agent of a nomination contestant shall open, for the sole purpose of the contestant's nomination campaign, a separate bank account in a Canadian financial institution as defined in section 2 of the Bank Act, or in an authorized foreign bank as defined in that section, that is not subject to the restrictions and requirements referred to in subsection 524(2) of that Act.
Account holder name	(2) The account must name the account holder as follows: ``(name of financial agent), financial agent''.
Payments and receipts	(3) All financial transactions of the nomination contestant in relation to the contestant's nomination campaign that involve the payment or receipt of money are to be paid from or deposited to the account.
Closure of bank account	(4) After the selection date, the financial agent of a nomination contestant shall close the account once any unpaid claims or surplus nomination campaign funds have been dealt with in accordance with this Act.
Final statement of bank account	(5) The financial agent shall, on closing the account, provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the final statement of the account.
Prohibition - accepting contributions	478.13 (1) No person, other than the financial agent of a nomination contestant, shall accept contributions to the contestant's nomination campaign.
Accepting certain contributions prohibited	(2) No financial agent of a nomination contestant shall accept a transfer from a registered party or registered association.
Prohibition - paying nomination campaign expenses	(3) No person or entity, other than the financial agent of a nomination contestant, shall pay nomination campaign expenses, other than personal expenses, of the contestant.
Prohibition - incurring nomination campaign expenses	(4) No person or entity, other than a nomination contestant or his or her financial agent, shall incur nomination campaign expenses of the contestant.
Prohibition - contestant's personal expenses	(5) No person, other than a nomination contestant or his or her financial agent, shall pay the contestant's personal expenses.
Limits on expenses	478.14 The limit for nomination campaign expenses - other than personal expenses as defined in section 478.01 - that is allowed for a nomination contestant in an electoral district is the amount
	(a) that is 20 % of the limit that was allowed under section 440 for a candidate's election expenses 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 - expenses more than maximum	478.15 (1) No nomination contestant or financial agent of a nomination contestant shall incur nomination campaign expenses - other than personal expenses as defined in section 478.01 - in an amount that is more than the limit allowed for that electoral district under section 478.14.
Prohibition - collusion	(2) No person or entity shall
	(a) circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, the limit referred to in section 478.14; or
	(b) act in collusion with another person or entity for that purpose.
	Recovery of Claims
Claim for payment	478.16 (1) A person who has a claim to be paid for an expense in relation to a nomination campaign shall send the invoice or other document evidencing the claim to
	(a) the nomination contestant's financial agent; or
	(b) the nomination contestant, if there is no financial agent.
Bar to recovery	(2) A claimant is barred from recovery of a claim to be paid if the invoice or other document evidencing the claim is sent more than three months after the selection date.
Deceased claimant	(3) If a claimant dies before the end of the three-month period, a new three-month period begins, for the purposes of subsection (1), on the day on which the claimant's legal representative becomes entitled to act for the claimant.
Payment within four months	478.17 (1) A claim for nomination campaign expenses that has been sent in accordance with section 478.16 must be paid within four months after the selection date, or in the case referred to in subsection 478.23(7), the polling day.
Exceptions	(2) The requirement to pay a claim within four months does not apply to a claim in respect of which
	(a) the documents may be sent within a new period under subsection 478.16(3);
	(b) the Chief Electoral Officer has authorized payment under section 478.19;
	(c) a judge has authorized payment under section 478.2; or
	(d) proceedings have been commenced under section 478.21.
Unenforceabl e contracts	478.18 A contract involving a nomination campaign expense in relation to a nomination contestant is not enforceable against the contestant unless entered into by the contestant personally or by the contestant's financial agent.
Irregular claims or payments - Chief Electoral Officer	478.19 (1) On the written application of a person with a claim to be paid for a nomination campaign expense in relation to a nomination contestant or of the contestant's financial agent or the contestant 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 payment, through the contestant's financial agent, of the amount claimed if
	(a) the invoice or other document evidencing the claim was not sent in accordance with section 478.16; or
	(b) the payment was not made in accordance with subsection 478.17(1).
Conditions	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer may impose any term or condition that he or she considers appropriate on a payment authorized under subsection (1).
Irregular claims and payments - judge	478.2 On the application of a person with a claim to be paid for a nomination campaign expense in relation to a nomination contestant or on the application of the contestant's financial agent or the contestant, as the case may be, a judge who is competent to conduct a recount may, on being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for so doing, by order authorize the payment, through the contestant's financial agent, of the amount claimed if
	(a) the applicant establishes that an authorization under subsection 478.19(1) has been refused and that the invoice or other document evidencing the claim was not sent in accordance with section 478.16 or the payment has not been made in the four-month period referred to in subsection 478.17(1); or

Bill C-24

Division 5

Nomination Contest Report and Financial Administration of Nomination Contestants