Evidence of meeting #6 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-2.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Well, you can say that, but one of them could be one of these issues.
Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Ethics Commissioner
It could be, and there's always an opportunity some weeks later to raise the issue--
Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Ethics Commissioner
Or if you're lucky enough to have an MP who would like to bring the matter forward.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Has this apparent hole been brought up at any stage of Bill C-2 or at any time in any discussions? Ministers, of course, continue to remain ministers during an election campaign, and they continue to run their departments. They continue to issue orders, and theoretically they, as well as office holders, could breach the ethics code during an election campaign, and yet not a single one of the sitting 308 members of Parliament has the capacity to bring that to your attention. That, to me, is a glaring hole. Was it ever brought up by anybody?
Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Ethics Commissioner
Not that I know of, although I haven't been party to all of those discussions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Fascinating!
Well, I don't know that it's going to do us any good, but it's very frustrating to me to find out that for all intents and purposes we're nothing once a writ is dropped. I'm sure my constituents and the ones who come to me during an election campaign to help with their immigration matters, etc., would be flabbergasted to hear that. Theoretically, then, the entire bureaucracy could, as a right, simply say, “I'm sorry, we're not going to talk to you.” Anyway, that's not your problem, but it's an interesting one.
Would anyone else like to ask any questions of the Ethics Commissioner?
Mr. Dhaliwal.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To continue what you were saying, is there any way we could bring that clause in when it comes to...? Personally, I feel we should be very transparent and open in this process. In fact, it limits the public when even one of the 308 members does something that is unethical and that complaint can't even be put forward until election day. I'm just wondering if you could ask Mr. Shapiro if it can be taken care of one way or the other.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Mr. Shapiro, would you view it as in your purview to bring this matter to others' attention, or not?
Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Ethics Commissioner
I would not take that step. That's a personal comment, not a comment on a theory about who should take the next step, or how.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Among other things, including possible notice of motion, next Wednesday's meeting will be devoted to future business of the committee. It might be an idea that we discuss this to see whether there are some hearings we might have, assuming it's within our mandate, to perhaps make some recommendations to the government.
Mr. Benson.
Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Ethics Commissioner
I just want to clarify something. I said it was in the Grewal-Dosanjh case, but it was in the Harper-Emerson case.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
But you will provide it to the committee, in any event? Thank you.
Are there any other questions of Mr. Shapiro or his staff at this time? All right.
This has been absolutely fascinating. I want to thank everybody for coming. I hope we'll have you back for estimates. If there's anything else that any committee members think of later, by all means let us know and we'll ask the commissioner and his staff if they can respond in writing.
Mr. Wallace.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
At this point there is no Monday agenda because we're going to be attending the seminar on access to information.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
If that is not approved by the House, there won't be any meeting anyway, because we won't have any agenda. So the next meeting is Wednesday.
September 20th, 2006 / 4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
On the workplan, exactly.
Thank you very much, everyone, and thank you, Dr. Shapiro.
The meeting is adjourned.
