Thank you very much, Mr. Calkins.
Subsection 14(1) of the code reads:
Neither a Member nor any member of a Member's family shall accept, directly or indirectly, any gift or other benefit, except compensation authorized by law, that might reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the Member in the exercise of a duty or function of his or her office.
(1.1) For greater certainty, subsection (1) applies to gifts or benefits:
a) related to attendance at a charitable or political event...
It's pretty clear to me that section 14 of the code indicates that any gift or benefit related to attendance at a charitable or political event—and as a Conservative, I'm not sure that the NDP convention qualifies very much as a political event I'd want to be at, but it certainly is one.
If we have tens of thousands—again, I refer to the Le Devoir story—it seems to me that this is clearly an infraction of section 14 of the code.
Mr. Angus said earlier that there is nothing to see here, so I guess we should just move on. But I read that as being something quite different, as an egregious violation of section 14. And as Mr. Calkins has indicated, clearly there was some organization at the very top of the NDP, perhaps involving deputy leader Libby Davies, as it was in her backyard, or Thomas Mulcair. And certainly Brian Topp would have to have had something to do with this, as president of the party, although he was not a member at the time, so he couldn't be investigated. But it would seem very clear to me that receiving tens of thousands of dollars for a political event would be an infraction of section 14 of the code.