Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate being able to respond. First of all, I would like to say that my understanding initially, when this arrangement was being proposed, was that the 60% that would be claimed against that money would be retained by the Conservative fund.

Information & Ethics committee  Are you posing the question to me?

Information & Ethics committee  Because it doesn't involve my participation in the campaign, I feel it's not incumbent on me to respond.

Information & Ethics committee  Not the advertising of the media buy. I never saw a tag. I cannot affirm it, but I never saw a tag.

Information & Ethics committee  No, the signage and the media buy were held distinct. On the signage, we were billed for that and returned the money, because we hadn't actually worked with the people who did the signs. That was about $4,000. The other $3,000 was identified as media buy, and in that money there was no tag that I'm aware of in the publicity that appeared.

Information & Ethics committee  That's right, and I want to respond to that issue, because we do live in rule of law and there is a law governing these things. When the director of elections pointed it out to us, I think as an informed citizen I was able to make a decision with the law in front of me, and it became clear to me that it was not a legitimate local expense.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. On April 27 we received a letter from Mr. Mayrand, dated April 23, in which he said the $33,000, not the $4,000 for the signage, was illegitimate since there wasn't adequate documentation—that is, a contract signed by us or a bill to us. My agent and I discussed this, and we phoned the authorities, Elections Canada, who are the people designated by this Parliament to manage the elections.

Information & Ethics committee  Could you repeat the question?

Information & Ethics committee  It was when Elections Canada was looking into the matter and I went into the question in greater detail with my official agent.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I did it willingly because I had confidence in Mr. Rivard. However, when the time came to clarify things with Elections Canada, my agent and I acted on our own and declined the assistance of the Conservative Party.

Information & Ethics committee  We turned it down after reading the act in detail and after learning that Elections Canada said that it was not an acceptable expense. We never saw the contracts or received the invoices. This expense had nothing to do with our riding and had not been authorized by my official agent.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  Again, I don't feel it's incumbent on me to respond to that.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. There's one that I would like to be a little more precise about: all the advances deposited or routed by the Conservative fund.

Information & Ethics committee  Of course.