Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to go back to the same issue. I'm not a lawyer, so I'm as confused as the rest of us around the table. Clause 34 clearly says: Loans made before the coming into force of this Act continue to be subject to the Canada Elections Act as it read immediately before the coming into force of this Act.
In the book we were given, on page 105, it explains clause 34. It clearly says:
The Bill provides that the new rules on loans only apply to loans that were made after the coming into force of the Bill. For any loan that predates the coming into force of the Bill, the provisions of the Canada Elections Act that existed immediately before the coming into force of the Bill continue to apply.
Yet in your statement, Minister, you indicated that the annual donation limits—I understand what you're saying there—apply to leadership contestants who continue to be contestants. Your statement refers to leadership contests or contestants. The bill refers to loans.
We are muddying the waters on those two terms. How can someone who had a loan five years ago, even though they continued to be a contestant, have that loan that was taken out five years ago be exempt from the bill when it clearly talks about loans and not contestants?