Information & Ethics committee  Other than what Mr. Giorno has reported, the answer is no. However, I'd like to point out that the severity of the Quebec legislation has often been alluded to. For my part, I consider it one of the least strict for one reason. It's very strict when it comes to consulting lobbyis

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I think the five-year rule is adequate. However, we mustn't exaggerate. Contacts do evaporate quickly and the apparatus evolves quite rapidly. This is minimal protection. The one- or two-year rule that we have in current legislation is probably insufficient.

Information & Ethics committee  Very briefly, I would say that I support an appeal mechanism. That is why I said I had very strong reservations regarding the lobbying commissioner of Quebec's request that he be given the power to pursue offenders directly. In fact, that would become extremely arbitrary. We can

Information & Ethics committee  I think that the definition should be reviewed to include people who are not currently covered by it. I gave the City of Quebec and its mayor as an example. That's a public and well-known example, but there could be others. I'm sure there are others. As a matter of fact, that br

Information & Ethics committee  It is difficult to prevent these informal meetings, but at the same time, I would say that lobbying activity does not have to be planned and deliberate in order to constitute lobbying activity. Where should the line be drawn? I clearly stated in my conclusion earlier on that it

Information & Ethics committee  That is exactly what I was pointing out earlier on when I asked the following question: who is a lobbyist? It is precisely that. We are more and more aware that lobbying activity covers that. That is why, for example—I have not raised this yet—I would support declaring lobbyists

Information & Ethics committee  I agree. I agree entirely. In effect, that resulted in red herrings and in extremely arbitrary calculations. I come back to my former position and I wholeheartedly agree with the Canadian Bar Association in this regard. We talk about lobbying at 20%, 10%, 19%. At some point in t

Information & Ethics committee  I have no opinion on that.

Information & Ethics committee  No, in fact what I say... I would require that anyone who acts on a particular file be identified.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, it's... I have in the past been reluctant regarding this request from Quebec's lobbying commissioner. Given the progress on these issues over the past few years, it would perhaps be appropriate that the lobbying commissioner himself or herself be able to file complaints or

Information & Ethics committee  In fact, we must note from the beginning that there are two countries where there is legislation on lobbying, where, with very few exceptions...Vietnam and so on. There are very few exceptions—in Germany. Many countries have simply.... Several countries have simply abandoned the

Information & Ethics committee  Good morning. Thank you for the invitation. I am very honoured. If I may, I will be making my presentation in French because I still believe that I am in a bilingual country. Let's talk about lobbying. Today I'm going to be making quite a different presentation. First of all, y