It is an honour and a privilege to have you with us today, sir. Thank you for being here, and for having agreed to share your experiences of the Gomery Commission with us; although, I understand, of course, that that does not constitute the sum total of your experience. My questions will seek to establish a parallel between the conclusions of the Gomery report and the content of Bill C-2.
When she appeared before the Gomery Commission, the Auditor General said that the sponsorship scandal happened because, although rules existed, they were contravened, flouted and disregarded. She reiterated this sentiment to the committee when she said that the problem was not a lack of ethics rules in the government, but a lack of commitment to enforcing them.
The Conservative government is proposing Bill C-2 as an antidote to a problem it believes exists within the public service. Do you think this bill is seeking to rectify a real problem or, rather, the perception of a problem? In simple terms, are more rules needed, or is it simply a matter of enforcing the existing rules?