Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  In fact, shortly after my appointment, back in January or February, I had several meetings with David Hutton and a few meetings with Allan Cutler, separately, to get to know them, because I did not know them. I came from another sphere, if you wish. They agreed when I suggested the creation of a permanent, multipartite advisory committee of which they would be a part.

Government Operations committee  No. There are two streams. Under our act, somebody can come to us to disclose a wrongdoing. We investigate and we come to a conclusion. If the accusation of wrongdoing is found to be well-founded—and wrongdoing is essentially a contravention of a statute, gross mismanagement, or misuse of public funds--and we conclude that wrongdoing has taken place, this act gives us the teeth to make public a report to Parliament describing the wrongdoing, the fact that it happened, and our recommendations to avoid the reoccurence of the same situation.

Government Operations committee  Frankly--and I mean it--I read the act when it came out, and I believe this is an important tool. I was very concerned when I read the AG report. I saw a disaster, essentially, described. Madam Fraser was extremely credible. I took for granted everything she wrote in her report and I said I think I can contribute something to this.

Government Operations committee  We have two.

Government Operations committee  That's right.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  I reported, as a matter of fact, on June 14, when the first annual report was tabled. The act says that we have, essentially, 90 days after March 31, if Parliament is sitting, to table our annual report. The act also provides the commissioner with the authority to table special reports at any time on any matter, if there is something of significant importance that cannot wait for the annual report.

Government Operations committee  It's possible, yes, depending on the timing. Because if we can deal with it in the next annual report, then there is no problem.

Government Operations committee  The office has had consistently since its inception $5.3 billion. They were planning a staff complement of up to 45, according to some documents tabled in the past. We currently have a staff strength of 35, with two vacant positions to be staffed, for a total of 37. As for how it's organized, we currently devote eight FTEs to what I call corporate services--i.e., infrastructure, IT, IM, HR, finance, and so on and so forth.

Government Operations committee  It's a statutory obligation under section 44 and it could constitute a reason for discipline, I would think, without any hesitation. The emphasis we place on confidentiality is very high. We have an alarm system. We have security procedures. Every evening, every file is locked up.

Government Operations committee  Since I've been there, we've conducted a number of staffing actions. Many of the competitions, including the competition for the deputy commissioner and the competition for the executive director, who is in charge of anything that is not core business, were open to members of the public.

Government Operations committee  First of all, now that I have a much better understanding of my actual role than I did a year ago, I've taken concrete steps to not attend any luncheons or group meetings involving heads of agencies, deputy ministers, or CEOs, as defined under the act, to avoid any impression on the part of anyone that I'm being cozy with anybody who might be the subject of a complaint currently or in the future.

Government Operations committee  I would like to make a few comments too. I haven't seen the letter that you are mentioning, Mr. Chairman, and I have not met Dr. Keyserlingk, ever. I've heard his name, of course, and I know of him, but we have never met. He has expertise on matters of ethics, and I know that too.

Government Operations committee  I don't have results yet, because we started that only in September. We had to deal with the backlog before we could do that.