Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to go back to a question that Mr. Julian had earlier and see if we can't provide some clarification to it.
As I read subclauses 18(3), 18(4), and 18(5), am I right to understand that this applies either to companies that are going through the EDC to get their deposits back, or to those companies that have chosen not to use the EDC route and are going to go in whatever other manner they can to receive the deposits back?
Am I to assume that for those companies that chose to go with the EDC--and for round numbers let's use $100--when the government calculates the total amount of refund coming back to those companies, the government would pay them the net, which would be $82, and the $18 charge would be calculated up front?
At the same time, those companies choosing to go their own route, perhaps because of their cashflow or because they could afford to and they wanted to save some money on interest or administration fees, those companies that were going to collect the $18 themselves, notwithstanding when they actually got that money, would have to pay the $18 that was assessed in the beginning if that was the leave-behind money, if we can call it that. They would collect the balance of that, or they would then collect their total amount through their own means and they would end up basically with about the same thing as the EDC folks, except that they would be able to continue to collect some interest and they also may be able to avoid some administration charges.
Am I reading this right? If there was any up front money to be paid before they actually had the bulk of their money back, it would be by the companies that have chosen to go their own route to collect their deposits rather than by those going through the EDC program. Is that what this is referring to?