Mr. Chair, I think every member of this committee is aware of the declaration that we, as members of Parliament, sign after the conclusion of an election. There are five main points in that, the fifth one being that no other person or entity has, on behalf of the candidate, made any payment or given promise and so forth. Now, every member of Parliament, including the ones we're looking at in terms of the 67 candidates, in fact, who contested that election and did this contrary to the spirit of the law, certainly made that declaration.
I believe that as an ethics committee, Mr. Chair, we're looking at the ethics of those members. In fact, a number of them are office holders, and one of those office holders--she and her agents--in terms of a deception in reporting her return, signed off approximately $40,000 that was spent by the Conservative Party in a given province as part of that election campaign. In fact, Mr. Chair--I'll take my time--the total was $1.3 million.
Now, Mr. Chair--