Trudeau’s openness to election law tweaks questioned

OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau says he’ll welcome amendments from opposition parties to his government’s proposed reforms to laws governing federal political parties and elections.

The prime minister stressed his openness to amendments to Bill C-76 in response to Conservative demands Tuesday that government advertising and ministerial spending announcements and travel be banned during the three months preceding an election call.

And he did it again in response to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s contention that the bill will do nothing to prevent advocacy groups from using foreign money to influence the outcome of elections.

But Scheer questioned Trudeau’s sincerity, asserting that the prime minister “ordered” Elections Canada to implement the changes in the bill, introduced this month, before it had received “one word of debate or one vote.”

“If that is not trying to rig the rules in his favour, I do not know what is,” Scheer charged.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen accused the government of “bullying” opposition parties by threatening to cut short debate.

Bill C-76 is an omnibus bill that would reverse a number of changes wrought by the previous Conservative administration’s widely denounced Fair Elections Act, including restoring the use of voter information cards as a valid form of identification and doing away with measures that critics argued were designed to benefit the Conservatives.

Among other things, the bill would limit spending by parties and advocacy groups during the three-month period before an election is officially called.

But unless government spending announcements, ads and ministerial travel are banned at the same time, the bill will benefit the ruling Liberals, Scheer said.

Government House leader Bardish Chagger said 85 per cent of the bill involves measures recommended by Elections Canada and by the procedure and House affairs committee.