The Procedure and House Affairs committee studied Bill C-25, a bill amending the Canada Elections Act, and heard from Rachel Pereira, Director of Democratic Institutions at the Privy Council Office, who provided technical advice on various amendments.
Rachel Pereira explained that the false statements offence in the bill targets statements an individual knows to be false and made with intent to disrupt an election, and does not capture opinions, good faith statements, or honest mistakes. She noted that removing any of the seven enumerated statement types, such as those about election results, would leave a gap, giving the example of a candidate falsely claiming victory before results are ready. She clarified that the Commissioner of Canada Elections would investigate based on merit, with a high bar for prosecution, and that the commissioner acts in the public interest, not punitively. On a separate point, she defined a "foreign entity" under the act as including non-citizens, non-permanent residents, corporations not carrying on business in Canada, foreign political parties, and foreign governments. Regarding a government amendment to exempt the precise address of regulated fundraising events from public inspection, Pereira stated that the reports would still be published online minus the specific location, and that the amendment was consequential to that redaction requirement. On riding name changes, she confirmed that the bill defers to local MPs for such requests, and that a technical amendment to update schedule 3 of the act was needed because the Chief Electoral Officer cannot amend that schedule outside a seven-day window after a redistribution order.
The committee adopted several amendments, including one clarifying that an official agent can serve a different candidate in a future election, one adding a zero to a fine amount, one including audio recordings in the parody and satire defence, and one making it a corrupt practice for a financial agent of a nomination or leadership contestant to knowingly offer a bribe. An amendment to remove paragraph 482.01(g) on election results from the false statements offence was withdrawn after debate, with the mover citing concerns about a chilling effect on legitimate election questions, while the government opposed it, arguing the bill already protects free speech. The committee also adopted multiple amendments to riding name changes, including one to keep Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga as is, one to keep Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, one to rename Longueuil—Charles‑LeMoyne to Longueuil—Charles‑LeMoyne—Greenfield Park, one to rename Richmond-Arthabaska-Val-des-Sources to Richmond-Arthabaska-des-Sources, and one to add "Omineca" to Cariboo—Prince George in schedule 3, with the government's version of the latter amendment adopted over a Conservative version that included a redundant reference to British Columbia. A technical government amendment harmonized a prohibition on accepting contributions in the form of crypto assets, money orders, or payment products with its associated offence.
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