Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of those listening at home who are perhaps not really familiar with the political system, when a group of individuals has a certain ideology and wishes to promote it politically, they get together and decide to form a political party. This is when the need for money arises.
The next step is to form a group and begin collecting money, prior to going to the polls: buying advertising, getting known, publicizing the party's ideology, and so forth.
This is where things get complicated. Our party has a certain ideology. We do not want to be linked to business. That is why we form small teams. That is how it works in our ridings in Quebec. We form small teams and we collect contributions in amounts of $5, $15, $20 and sometimes $100 at a time. Once in a while, there are large donors. The members across the way talk about $1,000 contributions, but that is another realm entirely.
I will calm down a bit. There is a world of difference between getting ready for an election when you are the Liberal Party of Canada and getting ready for an election when you are the Bloc Quebecois. Both parties have to get out in the ridings, get to know people. We, however, collect money by the sweat of our brow, while the other side has only to organize a few corporate financing activities. They do not worry. The money comes in and things are not complicated.
Politics is easy when you have money, but we believe in our principles. We have our own values and we will continue doing so.
Today's debate is interesting because it gives us the opportunity to hear such nonsense from the other party. For example, this morning, the member for Abitibi said, paper in hand, that when I was elected in the 1995 by-election, I had received funds from an unknown source. The money was simply given by the Bloc Quebecois' national organization.
I will not be treated like a fool when it is so hard to collect money.
It is because of people like them that people are so cynical about politics. It is because of incidents like this one, because of the corruption going on, that they do not want to hear about politics. And you don't have to wonder why.