Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm not unsympathetic to the points raised by my colleagues from the Bloc and the Liberals. I understand that they have a legitimate concern that it may be onerous to deal with the administrative details here. But all four executive directors of the four main political parties in the country were here. They're well aware of what we're doing. I imagine they're making preparations, as we speak, in anticipation of this coming into law.
The average donation, as we heard in testimony here at the committee, is less than $200. So there won't be that many people affected, if refunds are necessary, if royal assent doesn't occur until as late as July 1, even if it takes us that long for the Senate to deal with this and get it back for third reading. It may be that somebody will have donated more than the maximum limit by then, and we would have to issue refunds. But the parties are prepared to do that. From my experience, there won't be any refunds necessary in my riding association. There may be in some.
I can guarantee you that the political parties are out there shaking the bushes as we speak. They've used from April 11, when they first learned of the government's intention, until the date it achieves royal assent and implementation, to get as many $5,400 donations as they possibly can from people who are able to make them. I don't buy that anybody is being disadvantaged. Fair notice was given. Adequate time has been given. If this is a good idea and an honourable thing to do now, or ever, why should we wait six or eight months to actually implement it?
We dealt with the concept of retrospective versus retroactive in another context. If I could ask our experts, can you explain the application of that legal notion in the context of this fundraising?