Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that's right.

Information & Ethics committee  The current system doesn't really set out sanctions. The consequence is exposure. If someone does something that's a conflict of interest or a violation of the act, it'll be publicly exposed on our website. We'll inform the Prime Minister or the Speaker of the House of Commons. It's up to them to decide what the consequences should be.

Information & Ethics committee  To be honest, I didn't think I was here to suggest amendments to the act, but I can send you some suggestions in writing. I believe the impact is significant. There are also unexpected consequences. We want to avoid that. That said, I'd like to reflect on this some more before making suggestions.

Information & Ethics committee  Let's start off with your basic error: You're putting those two years together. We advise on the specific gifts in each year on its own. It's not cumulative and you can't add them up, so let's talk about the gift of this year. That's what we're talking about, the gift for this year.

Information & Ethics committee  —so you know them. You may think it's improper or not, and that's obviously what an elector might think, but is it enough for me to have reason to believe that there is something here that needs to be investigated? No, it's not.

Information & Ethics committee  I wasn't here last year. I didn't make last year's decision.

Information & Ethics committee  This year's decision was made by somebody in my office on the basis of the facts disclosed by the Prime Minister. We came to the conclusion, obviously, that this was something.... We give advice; whatever the advice was, I can't tell you, but the consequence of the advice was that nothing was published on our website, about which you can infer whatever you want to infer.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't see what one has to do with the other. We are talking about gifts received by Mr. Trudeau. Things received by the Trudeau Foundation are not a gift to Mr. Trudeau.

Information & Ethics committee  — and by definition, we have established that truly it is a friendship, but the gift is so exceptional in value that it is enough for me to invoke my powers and say that I have reason to believe that this cannot be true. Therefore, I could start an investigation, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, I don't think it would. A bit of a parallel is solicitor-client privilege. If you come to me as a solicitor, I defend you. Let's say you have been charged with something. Everything you tell me is in confidence. I will actually know the unvarnished truth about what happened.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, not quite. The way it was posed to me is that there is a legal gift. It's a gift. It's from a friend—

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry; it's not a Canadian context, because the context here is two friends. The Greens and the Trudeaus are friends. They have been friends since Mr. Trudeau was a child. He has visited his place. Mr. Green has visited Canada. He's been at 24 Sussex. He's been at Harrington Lake.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry; you asked me a question. Let me finish it.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, you know, first of all, sponsored travel is dealt with by the code that you impose upon yourselves. It is up to you to change it. Of course you want to deal with it. If you do that and you want to update it, you want to also deal with what you perceive and what you feel are current attempts to influence Canadian public opinion and elected officials.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.