In terms of its debts, just to be clear, a riding can of course embark upon the debt to begin with. But at the end of the day, the expenses—not necessarily a loan of that nature—must all be paid by the candidate, who can have unpaid claims up to 18 months after an election. All of these sorts of provisions exist, which means that at the end of the day we're stuck with a situation where an account has to be left open because it has to be paid from the campaign account. All of these different aspects become problematic from an administrative perspective. So it seems like a fairly simple thing to be able to correct.
On membership fees, just to be clear again, as far as I'm concerned, these fees should not be counted in the $1,000 limit. I'm not suggesting that that contribution be considered part of the limit, but I do think we shouldn't be preventing it from being tax receiptable; I think that's the problem we've created. The vast majority of the people who give to political parties in this current context don't give huge amounts of money, and when they give, usually their membership contribution is one of the first portions of the money they give. And it's a bit unfair to those who can't afford much more than their $25, or $10, or whatever, membership fee not to grant them the tax credit but allow moneys over that amount to be tax creditable. I don't think that was the intention of Bill C-24 and I think it's something that needs to be corrected.