Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 4th, 2012

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Thank you very much.

On page 5 of his presentation Mr. Blais addresses a code of conduct for his employees, and I think he's surely willing to answer the question. It's public knowledge. It's been in the papers, and I'm convinced he has a very good answer to my colleague's question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

I will remind the members that we did invite the CRTC and Mr. Blais to be here for a discussion on the future and mandate of the CRTC, so we'll be mindful of that in our questions.

Mr. Cash, are you still on your preamble or are we getting to a question?

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

I asked the question. Would you like me to re-ask it?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I think I can help you.

I'll talk about what I do, which I think might be helpful, because I've indicated to commission staff and commissioners that I think this is a good practice.

As I mentioned, I've travelled to and met all of our regional offices: Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Moncton, and Halifax. As well, there will be more meetings, because people come to see me.

I can't live in an ivory tower. If they want a meeting, my practice has always been that we send a letter ahead of time telling them about their obligation under the Lobbyists Registration Act not to raise matters that are currently in front of us. At every meeting—and you can ask people, who will tell you I do this regularly—I remind them not to raise matters that are before us and to make sure they meet their obligations under the Lobbyists Registration Act.

I do that as a matter of practice, from consumer groups to large companies. I think we cannot live in an ivory tower; that's why my presentation talks about framing how we have those meetings so we ensure the integrity of our process is maintained, particularly because we are an administrative tribunal.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

No one is suggesting you should live in an ivory tower, but the issue here is cleaning up the muck in the basement. In the case of one of your commissioners, I've just looked on his website today, and he is soliciting business to his private company. He's using the CRTC—

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

He's using the CRTC's email address—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Mr. Cash, Mr. Calandra has a point of order.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Okay.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I'd ask that we stick to the topic that we agreed to have the commissioner speak about.

If the NDP would like to have an investigative tribunal on all of the issues that it feels should be taken up via the lobbying commissioner, they can do that in front of another committee, not this committee.

I would ask that you keep the member—not just that member, but all of the members—strictly on line with why we have the commissioner here in front of us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Mr. Cash, I think you've heard that point of order.

I'd have to agree a bit on that. Let's try to keep to the reason we brought him in. We can call any number of witnesses at any time. Our witnesses come prepared to speak to what we invite them to speak on, so if you could try to frame your question, you have a minute and a half.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Great.

The question is this: is it appropriate, and does it enhance public trust in the commission, to have commissioners using the commission's resources to solicit private business?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I have no knowledge of what you're referring to, so it would be dangerous for me to give any sort of response. What I told you earlier is how I go about my business. I think that is the best. I don't know all the facts and circumstances; I don't even know which commissioner you're referring to, let alone what the details or circumstances around that are.

I can tell you that we do have—

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I think at this point it would be fair to seek the commissioner's approval to move in camera. Obviously we're going into a role of asking the CRTC chair questions that he was obviously not prepared to answer and bringing up issues that are better served at other committees. He's asking the chair to comment on other people's businesses, and I think that's not something we brought him here for. I'd ask that we move in camera so that—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Is that a motion?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

It's a motion to move in camera so we could review why we brought the CRTC chair here.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Ms. Sitsabaiesan, it's non-debatable. There's a motion to move in camera.

All those in favour of the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

I kind of want to challenge the chair. Madam Clerk, may I ask you a question, on a point of clarification?

You can't put a motion on the floor—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Hold on. When there's a motion to move in camera, it's non-debatable. We have a motion, the motion has passed, so now we have to move in camera.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

May I ask you a procedural question, at least?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Well, when we've....

We're moving in camera now.

[Proceedings continue in camera]

[Public proceedings resume]

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

[Public proceedings resume]

Mr. Blais, welcome back. We missed you.

Mr. Cash has 53 seconds left for his question.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

I'd like to ask you, then, to flesh out the initiative that you mentioned in your report around a new code of ethics.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

Parliament recently adopted an obligation for a code of ethics to be a part of the service contract of members of the public service. We can shape one in particular for the employees, and that's what we did. That code of conduct applies to me and the staff of the commission.

The commissioners' conduct is subject to another code, which Ms. Dawson administers. I have suggested that they can act consistently with this code, and many of them embrace it because it gives them guidelines, but they're not technically bound by it. It's a code that talks about confidentiality of information, who you meet, in what circumstances, how you deal with confidential information, and post-employment situations.