Hon. Denise Batters: Minister Gould, I am a member of the Senate's Legal Committee. When Marc Mayrand appeared before us last fall, he testified that foreign third-party organizations are exempt from the donation rules, capping campaign contributions. This would mean, for example, that funds coming from China, Iran and Saudi Arabia would not be subject to the same rules everyone else follows during a Canadian election campaign.

The last election saw unprecedented spending on behalf of third-party organizations, some of it funded by foreign lobby groups not restricted by Canada's electoral financing laws. In fact, Canadian third-party organization Leadnow, allegedly with the benefit of foreign contributions, boasted about its ability to influence the outcome of our Canadian federal election through strategic voting. Free and fair elections are the very hallmark of our Canadian democracy.

Minister, will you commit to closing this third-party funding loophole today? Make this meaningful change to our law, and you will avoid your ministerial tenure being remembered solely for doing Prime Minister Trudeau's dirty work by breaking a major election promise.

Hon. Karina Gould, P.C., M.P., Minister of Democratic Institutions: It is Valentine's Day; so I will operate in a framework of love.

Thank you, Senator Batters, for your question. As you illustrated in your question, we both cherish the democracy we have in Canada. That unites us all in this place and the other place. I'm delighted to be here and to answer that question.

As I said to your colleague, there's very little evidence to suggest that foreign money is influencing Canadian elections by third parties, but it is important. I will continue to work with my staff and colleagues in this place and in the other place to ensure that we put reasonable spending limits for third parties between elections. That was something that was definitely an issue in the past, but also spending limits for campaigns, because in the previous election we did see that spending limits had increased because of changes made by the previous government to the fair elections act.

It's really important to Canadians that we set those limits here as well and of course to recognize that it's important to make sure that we get the facts right so that Canadians continue to have confidence in our system. In the Canada Elections Act it is prohibited for foreign spending in Canadian elections during the writ period. It is prohibited for foreign money to be donated to political parties, third parties or candidates, and there are very strict penalties for that.