Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the tone of the hon. member. We have worked together on this file. We have a couple of disagreements, but there is a lot of respect in terms of the work we have done. However, I completely disagree with everything he just said.
If the government was so bloody concerned about taxpayers' money, why did it waste $1.7 million of taxpayers' money on a file and an appeal that it eventually caved on anyway and pleaded guilty? It should not talk to us about caring about taxpayers' money.
I will quote two sentences directly from the Chief Electoral Officer's report. First, in terms of the approach that the Chief Electoral Officer wanted and the one that we are putting forward today, this is what he said the preferred option would be. He stated, “This approach would substantially enhance transparency and accountability, thus complementing the reforms adopted in 2003 and 2006”.
Two, what did the Chief Electoral Officer say about the suggestion from the government and the position that is in the majority report? He stated, “This solution”, meaning the Conservative solution, “would notably entail increased auditing costs for the parties and would require Elections Canada to issue guidelines for the accounting auditors”.
If I get a chance, there is another part to that answer that I would love to give.