BILL 13
An Act to Amend the Political Process Financing Act
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:
1 Subsection 1(1) of the Political Process Financing Act, chapter P-9.3 of the Acts of New Brunswick, 1978, is amended
(a)  in the definition “accountant” by striking out “a registered industrial accountant” and substituting “a certified management accountant”;
(b)  in the French version by repealing the definition « année financière » and substituting the following:
« année financière » désigne la période commençant le 1er avril d’une année et se terminant le 31 mars de l’année suivante; (fiscal year)
(c)  in the English version
(i) by repealing the definition “financial year”;
(ii) by adding the following definition in alphabetical order:
“fiscal year” means the period commencing on April 1 in one year and ending on March 31 in the next year; (année financière)
2 Section 31 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:
Entitlement to annual allowance
31 An annual allowance shall be payable for each fiscal year to the following registered political parties:
(a)  every registered political party represented in the Legislative Assembly on April 1 of that fiscal year; and
(b)  every registered political party which, although not represented in the Legislative Assembly, had at least 10 official candidates at the preceding general election.
3 Section 32 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:
Amount of annual allowance
32(1) In this section, “qualifying political party” means a registered political party that is entitled to receive an annual allowance. (parti politique admissible)
32(2) Subject to subsection (4), the amount of an annual allowance that is payable for a fiscal year to a qualifying political party shall be determined by using the following formula:
(A − B) × (C / D)
where
A is the amount of the appropriation authorized by the Legislature for making all of the payments which are required under this Act to be made to all of the registered political parties during the fiscal year;
B is the total amount to be paid under section 57 to all registered political parties during the fiscal year;
C is the total number of valid votes cast for all of the official candidates of that qualifying political party at the preceding general election; and
D is the total number of valid votes cast for all of the official candidates of all the qualifying political parties at the preceding general election.
32(3) For the purpose of completing the calculation under subsection (2), the figure arrived at by dividing C by D shall be rounded to the nearest one-thousandth before multiplying that figure by the result of subtracting B from A.
32(4) An amount determined in accordance with subsection (2) shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of one dollar.
32(5) After the amount of an annual allowance that is payable to a qualifying political party for a fiscal year has been determined, no adjustments shall be made to that amount during the fiscal year for which the amount was determined, despite that a general election is held during that fiscal year.
4 The Act is amended by adding after section 32 the following:
Publication of statement of annual allowance payable
32.01 On or before June 1 of each fiscal year, the Supervisor shall publish in The Royal Gazette a statement of the annual allowance that is payable to each of the registered political parties during that fiscal year.
5 Section 32.1 of the Act is repealed.
6 Section 33 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:
Payment of annual allowance
33 The annual allowance payable for a fiscal year shall be paid in equal quarterly instalments not later than the last day of June, September, December and March of that fiscal year.
7 Section 33.1 of the Act is repealed.
8 Section 33.2 of the Act is repealed.
9 Subsection 34(2) of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:
34(2) If, during a calendar year, a registered political party fails to incur costs for the uses set out in subsection (1) which are equal to or greater than the amount of the annual allowance paid to it during that calendar year, the difference between that amount and the costs actually incurred by it for those uses during that calendar year shall be remitted to the Minister of Finance to be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
10 Section 35 of the Act is amended
(a)  by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:
35(1) Subject to subsection (2), on or before June 15, September 15, December 15 and March 15 of each fiscal year, the Supervisor, by certificate signed by him or her, shall authorize the Minister of Finance to pay to the official representative of a registered political party entitled to an annual allowance the quarterly instalment of that party’s annual allowance, and the Minister of Finance shall pay that amount out of the Consolidated Fund.
(b)  in subsection (2) of the French version by striking out “des acomptes”.
11 Section 36 of the Act is repealed and the following is substituted:
Publication of statement of payments to registered political parties
36 On or before June 1 of each fiscal year, the Supervisor shall publish in The Royal Gazette a statement of the annual allowance paid during the preceding fiscal year to each of the registered political parties.
12 Subsection 50(1) of the English version of the Act is amended in the portion preceding paragraph (a) by striking out “for advertising or” and substituting “for advertising on”.
13 Section 57 of the Act is amended
(a)  by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:
57(1) The Supervisor shall authorize the reimbursement of a registered political party for its auditing expenses of up to $2,000 actually incurred by it in a calendar year for the purposes of complying with sections 51 to 56.
(b)  by adding after subsection (2) the following:
57(3) The reimbursement provided for in subsection (1) shall be paid not earlier than April 1 in each year for the auditing expenses incurred in the preceding calendar year.
14 Subsection 59(1) of the Act is amended in the portion preceding paragraph (a) by striking out “financial year” and substituting “calendar year”.
15 Subsection 60(1) of the Act is amended by striking out “financial year” and substituting “calendar year”.
16 Subsection 81(2) of the English version of the Act is amended by striking out “by him” and substituting “by him,”.
17 Section 93 of the Act is repealed.
18 Section 95 of the Act is amended by striking out “subsection 34(2),”.
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
19(1) Despite sections 32 and 33 of the Political Process Financing Act, the amount of an annual allowance instalment payable to a registered political party on March 31, 2010, shall be the same as the amount of the instalment payable to that registered political party on December 31, 2009.
19(2) On or before March 1, 2010, the Supervisor of Political Financing shall publish in The Royal Gazette a statement of the annual allowance instalment that is payable to each of the registered political parties in accordance with subsection (1).
19(3) On or before June 1, 2010, the Supervisor of Political Financing shall publish in The Royal Gazette a statement of the annual allowance instalment paid to each of the registered political parties in accordance with subsection (1).
20(1) All annual allowances paid under the authority of the Political Process Financing Act before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been validly paid and are confirmed and ratified.
20(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be taken as providing an indication that an annual allowance paid under the authority of the Political Process Financing Act before the commencement of this Act was not validly paid.
COMMENCEMENT
21 This Act comes into force on January 1, 2010.

Chapter Outline Update
14
Strike out section 59 and substitute the following:
Financial returns for each calendar year59
15
Strike out section 60 and substitute the following:
Financial returns for preceding calendar year60