Canada. Advisory Committee to Study Curtailment of Election Expenditures : The Advisory Committee to Study Curtailment of Election Expenditures, commonly referred to as the Committee on Election Expenses, was established on October 27, 1964 by Secretary of State, Hon. Maurice Lamontagne. The Committee was charged with the responsibility to "inquire into and report upon the desirable and practical measures to limit and control federal election expenditures" (Report on the Committee on Election Expenses, 1966) Francois Nobert, a lawyer from Trois-Rivières, was appointed Chairman of the committee. Following Nobert's death shortly after the appointment, Alphonse Barbeau was named Chairman in his place. The other committee members were; Hon. M.M. Coldwell, former national Leader of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation; Mr. Gordon R. Dryden, Secretary-Treasurer of the Liberal Federation of Canada; Mr. Arthur R. Smith, former Progressive Conservative member of the House of Commons; Dr. Norman ward, Professor of Political Science at the University of Saskatchewan. The first meeting was held on January 30th, 1965.
Part of the committee's responsibility was to investigate how political funds were raised in Canada; the existing techniques and conditions under which funds were collected, and how they were spent. During the committee's investigations a federal election was called on November 8th, 1965. The committee used the federal election as an opportunity to interview candidates and political parties on questions of election funding. The recommendations of the committee were published in 1966 in what is known as the Barbeau report. These included, among other recommendations, making disclosure of candidates' and parties' incomes and expenditures to the public mandatory. The committee also recommended providing subsidies to qualified candidates as a means of creating financial equality among candidates. The changes were to be encompassed in the proposed Election and Political Finances Act.
Changes to the legislature were not made immediately following the 1966 Committee on Election Expenses. An additional committee was held in the early 1970s to investigate election financing, known as the Chappell Committee, which reported in 1972. In 1974 recommendations taken from both committees were incorporated into the Election Finances Act (EFA).