Information & Ethics committee  It was supposed to go back the same day.

Information & Ethics committee  I have no idea who Retail Media is, nor have I really cared about it. I'm sure that likely some of the principals are members of the Conservative Party; at least I hope they would be. Just like every other party, the Liberal Party has an agency, and the NDP has an agency.

Information & Ethics committee  For $80,000 per riding association? Why is there a limit? Because it's so many per vote. It's supposed to give equal opportunity for each of the registered parties, that they can spend the exact same amount of dollars per vote. That's a wonderful theory. The problem is what happens if you don't have that kind of money.

Information & Ethics committee  Because they didn't really affect me, I would have gotten them in the mail, thrown them in the folder, and said, “Well, that's nice.”

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  The Christmas holidays were on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I obviously went on holidays, took a day off, came back, looked at the bank account, and went, “Oh.”

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct.

Information & Ethics committee  —but since you guys make the rules, there are bound to be huge grey areas you can drive a truck through.

Information & Ethics committee  I work for a bank. The national party has people who are in the advertising business who do all that sort of stuff. If I were to go out and spend it, I would have to become an expert in advertising. I have a day job at the same time; I have other things going on and volunteer stuff that I do.

Information & Ethics committee  When I sent the money back to Ottawa, it was authorized to spend it.

Information & Ethics committee  Naturally.

Information & Ethics committee  It was because in the 2005 campaign my riding association did not receive a refund. That means we had to start from scratch. One year later we had an election. We managed to raise or spend $21,000. Actually, we ran a deficit for the first little while, but we spent $21,000. I have $80,000 in my cap, so net, $80,000 minus $20,000 is $60,000.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct, but those are the rules.