Fair enough. I wouldn't expect you to come equipped with those off the top of your head, although I would have been impressed if you had. Thank you for that.
I asked that question for a reason. The legal costs of the Conservative Party at that time were also well over $1 million. I've heard as high as $2 million. I do know that it was the second highest ongoing expenditure in the inter-election period, when the Conservative Party finally gave up the battle and decided to abandon the case.
At that time, only about $300,000 was actually being contested. Elections Canada, or the commissioner as it may be, had lowered the amount that was in contest to a point where it was significantly below the actual amount then being litigated, but was it necessary to go through that very expensive litigation in order to get that number—the claim about how much the party was illegally claiming—driven down to a $300,000 level?
I raise this for the following reason. At that time, it was never clear to me whether, had I and others tried to assist in paying the Conservative Party's legal costs, Elections Canada would have taken the position that we were making an illegal contribution to the party, or whether they would have said that this is a legitimate exercise of a citizen's right to assist a group with a legal matter. If the latter position would have been taken, then that would have been fine, from my point of view. If the former, then effectively Elections Canada would have been taking the position—I think unintentionally, but that would have been the logical consequence—that Elections Canada can, through its prosecution of fundraising activities, drive any party into bankruptcy, simply by pursuing the enormous costs associated with litigation.
Let me ask you the question now. Should such a situation arise in the future, either with the Conservative Party or any other party, would it be your position that contributions made by private citizens to the legal expenses associated with a matter of this sort would be unlawful contributions to the party?