And creating a top limit. At that time, it was $5,000 indexable. It became $5,400 with the indexation in 2006.
The point I would like to make about this amendment, which was put forward by my colleague, Mr. Owen, is that by creating a limit of $2,000, it does not in any way impede any political party from, to use the words of my colleague, Mr. Poilievre, on the other side of this table, “connecting with the grassroots”, because in the words of their own technical advisers, the Chief Electoral Officer reports that the average donation is under $200. So if one were to use his logic, the government should have made the maximum donation by an individual $200 annually, but it has not done that. It is proposing an upper limit that is five times the average donation. Therefore, I believe his logic does not hold.
But I also know that Mr. Martin is going to be voting with his friends, the Conservatives, and therefore it will be a tie vote. The chair will do what he has done from the beginning, which is side with the government.