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Most parties, for instance, strongly encourage their supporters to set up automatic monthly payments, which are often spread out so that by the end of the year, they’ve contributed the maximum allowed.

In that scenario, it would take just one $25 ticket to a local fundraiser to exceed the limit. (In fact, a little less than a third of all reported returns between 2007 and 2014 were for $25 or less.)

In other returns – particularly riding association and candidate filings – you’ll also occasionally see donations being returned to corporations, which are, of course, banned from providing funds to any federal political entity, period, and while the parties generally make sure to make those rules clear from the start, such illicit offerings occasionally slip past local and/or inexperienced political organizers.

There are also likely some donations that are returned because the contributor is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or even just asked for their money back, although those are more difficult to track, as the parties aren’t required to provide any further detail on why a particular contribution was returned.

But one thing that becomes clear to anyone who flips through the refund list is that one party appears to be preternaturally skilled at dodging such tiresome paperwork.

According to its filings, since 2007, the New Democratic Party has returned or remitted less than $500 in contributions.

Some numbers to put that in context: From 2007 to 2014, the four major political parties were obliged to divest themselves of a total of $1,645,033.67.