Mr. Speaker, of course, this is not the first time New Democrats have broken the law. They accepted $340,000 in illegal union money, which is an offence under the Elections Act, and I think they thought they could get away with it again when they employed parliamentary resources, which may ultimately have pushed them over the spending limit in key byelections, another offence under the act.
Additionally, the fair elections act will create new and tougher financial penalties for parties that exceed their spending limit and that will, hopefully, root out some of the abuses for which the NDP has become so well known.