Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will attempt to be brief.
If this committee was to pursue a lower limit of $1,000, or any other limit, there is an important facet in the area of party conventions. We all have party conventions; party conventions are a good thing. They draw people from across the country. They debate policy. They get the most active people in political parties together.
The Canada Revenue Agency has judged, and our legal advisers have advised, that we must provide receipts for convention delegate fees. The Liberal Party is a federation, which means that we have provincial conventions and national conventions, all of which may total more than $1,000 in a given year. We are required to have biennial conventions, which means that every two years someone is attending a national convention. Delegate fees, unfortunately, are very sizeable because of the size of this country and the size of our conventions.
With your indulgence, Mr. Chair, let me read, if I may, from a legal opinion we have:
Pursuant to subsection 127(4.1) of the Income Tax Act, any amount paid to a registered political party by a taxpayer is a “monetary contribution” within the meaning of the Canada Elections Act unless it is a monetary contribution for which the taxpayer receives or is entitled to receive a financial benefit of any kind other than a tax deduction or other financial benefit prescribed by the Income Tax Act.
Therefore we must issue an Elections Canada receipt to--