Information & Ethics committee  In answering questions, I'll also go into other key changes to ensure adequate resources and strong enforcement that's timely and effective to protect and uphold the public's right to know.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, very much so.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I think we rank now about 54th in the world, so we're way behind.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Chair and committee members, for this opportunity to appear before you today. Like Ken Rubin, I've been here several times before on this and other issues, and on this issue it was dating back 20 years. What I'm going to do today in my statement is summarize 18 key changes needed to the act and the enforcement system, and then I'll welcome your questions about them.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. The number 12 recommendation is that the penalties should include, for government officials attempting to escape penalties by resigning or retiring, loss or partial clawback of any severance or pension payments. Number 13, the commissioner should be required to issue a public ruling on a searchable website for every complaint they receive and every situation they review, and there must be a clear right for any member of the public to appeal a decision to court.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. With regard to recommendation 4 by the Ethics Commissioner on restricting sponsored travel, the Ethics Commissioner, at the end of his section, says that this would still allow an MP to be sponsored to travel to speak at a conference. That's a huge loophole. All of the lobby groups that are now giving MPs junket trips overseas—and their families and associates sometimes—which is all legal under the huge section 15 loophole, which never should have been in the code and is essentially a form of legalized bribery....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, Democracy Watch's position is that we agree with Mr. Dion's six general recommendations and nine technical recommendations generally. However, with regard to the recommendations on gifts, he has proposed that each lobbyist be allowed to give a $30 gift annually to each MP.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Because of the number of technical terms and also because I need to practice my French, I will answer in English. I hope that's okay with you. The definition of “private interests” is the huge loophole in subsections 3(2) and 3(3) of the code. Subsection 3(2) says that it's only financial interests that are covered.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition, which it coordinates and which is made up of 30 citizen organizations from across Canada, welcomes the opportunity to present to the committee during this long-overdue review of the code, with the hope that the committee will finally recommend key changes that will make the code effective in preventing and prohibiting conflicts of interest and unethical gifts and favours.

Information & Ethics committee  That's where the investigation has to go.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much. You can see, of course, as I mentioned, much more detail in the backgrounder I've prepared and submitted to the committee and in the news release that summarizes the key changes to end this system that really is a scandal. I hope the committee will work together to take a step, by introducing a bill in the fall, and close these loopholes.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I think it is relevant, but I prefer to wait until the investigation is over. The failure to recuse at the final cabinet meeting is not as serious a violation, if it is true that the public service actually recommended on its own that WE Charity be given the funding. However, participating in it and possibly influencing it are much more serious, possibly raising questions of breach of trust, which is why Democracy Watch has complained to the RCMP.

Information & Ethics committee  Sure. First of all, it does have to be shown whether Minister Morneau knew, or thought for sure, that he had paid for all of the costs. So that investigation needs to be done. To prove breach of trust, four of the five elements are already proven; he's an official, and so is the Prime Minister, taking part in a decision, in an official decision-making process, and breaching the standards of office in a serious way.

Information & Ethics committee  Just briefly, on the Ethics Commissioner selection process, and the Commissioner of Lobbying as well, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the Trudeau cabinet was biased when it chose those two commissioners, but the bias is allowed under the Supreme Court of Canada ruling, unfortunately.

Information & Ethics committee  It's entirely practical, but if they'd helped you in a significant way, they would not be allowed to lobby you. The other way to go is, if they had those ties and they were lobbying you, you would have to recuse yourself because of the favours they did before. That threshold is already in the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.