I just wanted to ask that question to make sure I understood correctly.
I do have a concern of a sort that might not have crossed your mind, but I've actually seen this happen. In some cases there's a preferred candidate who the people who run the riding association board of directors want to win.
Let me take my own riding—not at the federal level, but provincially—as an example. In 2007 the son of the riding association president ran for the nomination but did not win the nomination. It was won by a man named Randy Hillier, who is now the provincial member for that riding. The association then refused to make available its funds to their candidate, presumably in the hopes that he would lose, so that the son, Jay Brennan, would get a second shot at it.
Eventually that was overcome, but in the interim, when it looked as if he was going to go into an election without the ability to have any of the funds, even though they could have largely funded the election, I began to work on trying to line up loans to tide him over.
That would actually be impossible, am I right? Am I right that you'd have to have the consent of the EDA, giving them a complete stranglehold over his ability to finance anything?