Information & Ethics committee  There are two levers. First, there's education and comprehension, which help the individual to act in accordance with the expectations of the act and the code, the two instruments that apply. Then there are the consequences, which can have a serious impact on people's behaviour.

Information & Ethics committee  It's important to remember that there was also the Trudeau III Report, which absolved the Prime Minister.

Information & Ethics committee  When I was commissioner, there was a lot of talk in this committee about sanctions. I think there should be a review of the sanctions the commissioner could recommend. The commissioner can't impose sanctions. He's nobody's boss, except those who work in his office. However, recommending sanctions can put real pressure on the Prime Minister, who is, under the act, the final arbiter of all these decisions.

Information & Ethics committee  In this case, there's a problem. I don't think the legislative drafters foresaw this situation back in 2006.

Information & Ethics committee  For example, it could be a one- or two-week suspension, or a fine. I'm not thinking of imprisonment, obviously. It's important to know that the Criminal Code applies in the most serious situations, so I'm talking more about a fine or a suspension. It could also be mandatory training, as is done for harassment and impaired driving.

Information & Ethics committee  I would add, Mr. Chair, that one other relevant consideration is that the office gets notified about sponsored travel only way after the fact. Usually we are not consulted. We learn months after the trip has been completed. We basically publish what was declared to us. We have no role in judging or in saying anything about sponsored travel, but we publish so that the political process can take over, as it is now.

Information & Ethics committee  That is complete. I think it's complete.

Information & Ethics committee  There was also the “Morneau Report”. You forgot that.

Information & Ethics committee  They obviously don't. There is no other possible answer. It has a cumulative effect. It's taking place also around other situations, in other spheres of political life, if you wish. The surveys are clear. Overall, confidence has gone down in the last—

Information & Ethics committee  I think an hour would be sufficient to cover that particular topic.

Information & Ethics committee  Nor do I. I don't recall the trip you're talking about. I don't know what year it may have taken place in. It was published, I guess, in the sponsored travel list published on March 31.

Information & Ethics committee  I've stopped reading those articles, because sponsored travel is perfectly acceptable under the code. That's what Parliament decided several years ago. Any criticism of sponsored travel is a waste of time, because it's declared perfectly acceptable in the code governing the conduct of MPs.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, the government does take it seriously, although not as seriously as I wish it did. It's a spectrum of seriousness, if you will. There were several ministers and parliamentary secretaries who were taking their obligations very seriously. There were others who were not as serious about it.

Information & Ethics committee  The word “remedial” was affixed to it by somebody else. I did not conceive of it as remedial. I conceived of it in the sense that I believe in education; I believe in continuous education, and I believe anybody can always learn more about a subject matter. In the very busy world we live in, people sometimes choose not to take the time to properly understand their obligations, so that's why I made the recommendation a few months before I left that they should take the time to learn how to, essentially, better understand how to avoid trouble.

Information & Ethics committee  I think it was the Ng report. Almost certainly, it was the Ng report.