Mr. Chair, that question precisely concerns an important part of the evidence that Mr. Bernard gave when he appeared before this committee during his last visit to Canada. In fact, the provisional electoral council will become a permanent electoral council once the municipal and local elections are over, because it is those bodies that will have to elect the members of the permanent electoral council. So this is a movement from the bottom up, as a result of which the members of the provisional electoral council will form the permanent electoral council. Obviously, that will succeed provided there is money to pay them a salary. That's provided for in the Constitution, and that's how it should work. That partly explains the importance of the municipal and local elections. The other part is ultimately to have a local power that meets the public's requirements more fully than if those people were appointed by a central authority.
As to the frequency of elections, Mr. Bernard noted that the cost will become astronomical, as you said, because of the frequency of the elections. Haitians will clearly have to reconsider how they want to manage that. I can tell you one thing: my international experience tells me it will be very difficult to get donors to take part again in the next elections, whether it be Canada, the United States, or the European Union, because people will feel they've made their big effort for the first three rounds of balloting. For the next ones, Haitians will have to get organized. So the Haitians will have to reconsider their constitution in that regard.