Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 152, Number 11: PARLIAMENT
March 17, 2018
HOUSE OF COMMONS
First Session, Forty-Second Parliament
PRIVATE BILLS
Standing Order 130 respecting notices of intended applications for private bills was published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on November 28, 2015.
For further information, contact the Private Members' Business Office, House of Commons, Centre Block, Room 134-C, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6, 613-992-6443.
Charles Robert
Clerk of the House of Commons
COMMISSIONER OF CANADA ELECTIONS
CANADA ELECTIONS ACT
Compliance agreement
This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9.
On February 28, 2018, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a compliance agreement with Mathieu Désilets, pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act. The text of the compliance agreement is set out in full below.
February 28, 2018
Yves Côté, Q.C.
Commissioner of Canada Elections
Compliance agreement
Under section 517 of the Canada Elections Act (the Act), the Commissioner of Canada Elections (the Commissioner) and Mathieu Désilets (the Contracting Party) entered into this compliance agreement to ensure compliance with the Act.
The relevant provisions of the Act are subsections 477.59(1) and (7) as well as paragraph 497.4(1)(g) or (2)(i), which make it an offence for a candidate's official agent to fail to provide the Chief Electoral Officer with the candidate's electoral campaign return and other related documents within four months after polling day.
Statements by the Contracting Party
For the purpose of this compliance agreement, the Contracting Party acknowledges the following:
- The Contracting Party acted as the official agent of Bloc Québécois candidate Jean-Frédéric Vaudry in the electoral district of Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, Quebec, during the 42nd federal general election, held on October 19, 2015.
- Subsections 477.59(1) and (7) of the Act provide that, within four months after polling day, a candidate's official agent shall provide the Chief Electoral Officer with (1) an electoral campaign return, in the prescribed form, on the financing and expenses for the candidate's electoral campaign; (2) the auditor's report on the return; (3) a declaration in the prescribed form by the official agent that the return is complete and accurate; and (4) a declaration in the prescribed form by the candidate that the return is complete and accurate.
- In accordance with the Act, the Contracting Party had to submit Mr. Vaudry's electoral campaign return and other related documents to the Chief Electoral Officer by February 19, 2016.
- When this compliance agreement was signed, the Contracting Party had still not submitted Mr. Vaudry's electoral campaign return for the 2015 federal general election.
- The Contracting Party acknowledges and accepts responsibility for his failure to comply.
- The Contracting Party understands that his acknowledgement of the non-compliance does not constitute a guilty plea in the criminal sense and that no record of conviction is created as a result of admitting responsibility for acts that could constitute an offence.
- The Contracting Party acknowledges that the Commissioner has advised him of his right to be represented by counsel and has given him an opportunity to obtain counsel.
Factors considered by the Commissioner
In entering into this compliance agreement, the Commissioner took into account the factors set out in paragraph 32 of the Compliance and Enforcement Policy of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which is available on the Commissioner's website. More specifically, the Commissioner took into account the likely effectiveness of the compliance agreement for ensuring rapid compliance with the Act.
Undertakings and agreement
Under this compliance agreement, the Contracting Party undertakes to provide the Chief Electoral Officer with Mr. Vaudry's electoral campaign return as well as other related documents, within 30 days of the day he is notified by the Commissioner that this compliance agreement has been published on the Commissioner's official website.
The Contracting Party agrees in future to comply with the requirements of the Act regarding the provision of the electoral campaign return should he again act as an official agent for a candidate in a federal election.
The Contracting Party consents to the publication of this agreement in the Canada Gazette and on the Commissioner's website.
The Commissioner agrees that the Contracting Party will have complied with this compliance agreement when he has fulfilled the undertaking contained therein.
In accordance with subsection 517(8) of the Act, the Commissioner and the Contracting Party acknowledge that, when a compliance agreement is entered into, the Commissioner may not refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions unless there is non-compliance with the conditions of the compliance agreement and, in any event, the Director of Public Prosecutions may not institute such a prosecution unless it has been shown that the compliance agreement has not been complied with.
Signed by the Contracting Party, in the City of Terrebonne, in the Province of Quebec, this 16th day of February, 2018.
Mathieu Désilets
Signed by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, in the City of Gatineau, in the Province of Quebec, this 28th day of February, 2018.
Yves Côté, Q.C.
Commissioner of Canada Elections