XPost: bc.politics, can.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   After all the scandals surrounding the last election - from robocalls to   
   improper voting procedures to overspending by individual candidates,   
   Elections Canada has asked for greater powers to investigate, audit,   
   compel testimony, and to lay charges against offenders.   
      
   And what do the Harper Cons have up their secrecy & censorship sleeves?   
     Well, to CURB the powers of Elections Canada even more.  And to EXEMPT   
   the spending of robocall companies, campaign contributions and   
   solicitation of those contributions FOR THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS before   
   any election.   
      
   Wow.  Read between the lines.  . .  The Harper Cons want to be able to   
   spend more during election campaigns, keep campaigning throughout the   
   year on taxpayer dollars, and not have any 'services or solicitations'   
   included in the sums being declared to Elections Canada.   
      
   This needs to be fought by every voter in this country who is concerned   
   about where this current government has been trying to take us.  Send an   
   email to your party's head office and tell them you want MORE disclosure   
   and oversight in our election system - not less.  These bastards just   
   never stop with their 'amending Canadian laws to suit their own agenda',   
   do they?   
   _____________________________   
   CBC News Posted: Feb 04, 2014   
      
   Election reforms would bring big changes to campaign spending   
   Some fundraising to be exempt from expense limits under changes proposed   
   by Pierre Poilievre  {a Harper Con}   
      
   Elections Act changes	   
      
        Election chief needs new robocall laws by spring 2014	   
        Conservatives delay election reform legislation	   
      
   Some fundraising would be exempt from campaign spending limits under   
   changes proposed by Canada's Conservative government in the election   
   reform bill tabled today.   
      
   The change would essentially increase the amount parties can spend   
   during federal elections, aside from a separate measure that would   
   increase the cap for national and local campaigns by five per cent.   
      
   The measure would exempt as election expenses "the commercial value of   
   services provided to a registered party for the purpose of soliciting —   
   by mail, telephone or other electronic means — monetary contributions."   
      
   The exemption would apply to services soliciting donations from each   
   person who has donated $20 or more to the party, any of its riding   
   associations or candidates, or leadership candidates in the five years   
   before an election.   
      
   Parties and candidates can spend thousands of dollars soliciting   
   donations both in and out of an election campaign.   
      
   The measure isn't mentioned in the documents provided to reporters to   
   explain the bill's proposed changes.   
   Warning of investigations   
      
   The act also proposes the commissioner of Elections Canada warn people   
   who are under investigation.   
      
   "As soon as feasible after beginning an investigation, the Commissioner   
   shall give written notice of the investigation to the person whose   
   conduct is being investigated," the bill says.   
      
   It provides for the commissioner to decide not to notify someone who's   
   under investigation if it could compromise the investigation or any   
   other investigation.   
      
   The bill also instructs the commissioner or anyone working for the   
   commissioner not to disclose any information about an investigation,   
   "including information that reveals or from which may be inferred ...   
   the person whose conduct is being investigated or any witness."   
      
   The commissioner is responsible for ensuring the election law is followed.   
      
   Other changes proposed in the bill include:   
      
   -    Requiring identification to cast a ballot — a voter identification   
   card will no longer be enough.   
      
     -   Ending the process of vouching for someone without proper   
   identification.   
      
      -  Moving the commissioner of Canada Elections into the office of the   
   director of public prosecutions.   
      
       - Having the director of public prosecutions appoint the   
   commissioner of Canada Elections, rather than the chief electoral officer.   
      
        - Limiting the chief electoral office's role to sharing information   
   with the public on how to be a candidate, how to be added to the voter   
   list, how to vote,   
      
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   what identification to use, and ensuring people with disabilities can   
   get into polling stations to cast a ballot.   
      
   The Conservatives have had several disputes with the current chief   
   electoral officer, Marc Mayrand, since the party was first investigated   
   for moving advertising money from local to national campaigns. The party   
   pleaded guilty in 2011.   
      
      
   'Strip Elections Canada' of power   
      
   Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau alleged the changes are an attack on   
   Elections Canada.   
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   "The government's response to repeated findings of Conservative   
   wrongdoing? They want to strip Elections Canada of its investigative   
   powers, attacking its independence. Why?" he said in question period.   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the bill would make sure the   
   commissioner "has full independence" and is "effectively" housed in the   
   office of the director of public prosecutions.   
      
   "That should help the independence and the effectiveness of law   
   enforcement," Harper said.   
      
   Mayrand has repeatedly asked for increased investigative powers and for   
   the ability to audit political parties, which don't have the same   
   reporting requirements as individual candidates.   
      
   Mayrand has also said he and his officials weren't consulted on the   
   bill, and had just one meeting with Minister of State for Democratic   
   Reform Pierre Poilievre, at which there was no discussion of the   
   legislation.   
      
   Harper said the government read all of the agency's reports and that   
   Poilievre met with Mayrand in August.   
      
   "What we are doing is making sure that office [of the commissioner] has   
   full independence and of course that office is vested with all of the   
   powers necessary of all other investigators to conduct any   
   investigations on breaking the law."   
      
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        “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save   
   the environment.”    ― Ansel Adams   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)