Information & Ethics committee  If you're talking about my office and the ethics office, which I believe are the two offices that have been suggested, I'm not sure that I see savings in finances, to be honest with you, for my office. We're lean as it is. I have said before the committee that I think, where th

Information & Ethics committee  I can't comment on that one.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, I guess it would all come down to the priorities of the new commissioner. I think the base funding for our program, as I was saying, is fairly stable. There does need to be continued money into the registry and in the development. There was a period of time, after the budge

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of whether administrative penalties were given, or compliance agreements, I would suggest that, yes, this is something I would have in the act. Then the process would have to be developed to ensure natural justice and so on. In terms of where transparency could be impr

Information & Ethics committee  I would see it complementing, because I think we would have more of the continuum. Right now for summary convictions it's the maximum of $50,000, and $200,000 for indictments.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, as I said in my opening remarks, a legislative review, depending on what happens with changes, will impact the registry and perhaps things like the outreach and education program.... I am very much in favour of the monetary penalties, but putting a regime in place would hav

Information & Ethics committee  From what I have right now, if it's status quo, we're able to maintain and deliver on the priorities that I have set out in the main estimates, so I'm comfortable with that. In the comment in my speech, I was looking more at the future pressures that are continuing to come up.

Information & Ethics committee  The Lobbyists' Code of Conduct has rules that deal with the potential conflicts that can be created. One of those, as I was mentioning, is that there is an interpretation bulletin on political activities that discusses which political activities can be formed without creating tha

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. The educating and monitoring come into it in different ways. If there is a breach of the code, there is a report to Parliament, and that is one way the education and outreach is done, aside from what is conducted in other matters.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, what I can say in general terms is that the five-year prohibition applies to designated public office holders, who cannot act as a consultant lobbyist for five years in terms of lobbying the federal government. They cannot work for an in-house, non-profit organization for a

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  He decided that it was time for retirement. That's the short answer. He enjoyed what he was doing, but it was time to retire. I feel that with a new commissioner coming in, the importance of the deputy position is huge. Usually you want to be able to choose who your own deputy i

Information & Ethics committee  We score very high with the OECD because we meet all 10 of the principles they have outlined for a successful lobbying regime. All of those have been met in terms of the education and ensuring that there's a website that's visible.... However, when I look at what I've seen within

Information & Ethics committee  The discretionary funds amount to about 8% of my budget, or approximately $300,000. We've learned that, over the years, there have been carry forward funds. We're allowed to carry forward 5% of unused funds in the budget. Our funds have started decreasing because we need to use

Information & Ethics committee  Over the years, since becoming commissioner, I have referred 14 files to the RCMP. For a variety of reasons, some of them were returned. I decided, if I had reasonable grounds, to continue with the code investigations. In terms of the convictions this year, of the last seven, fou