Evidence of meeting #27 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was inquiry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It will occur. The numbers are not yet final, but it will be around that amount.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Oh, I see. So you've given yourself a substantial margin. Do you expect that, all things considered, you might end up with a $1 million lapse next year?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We might. We don't know how quickly we're going to be able to staff. We don't know how many inquiries we're going to have. That's the biggest imponderable.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Sure, and that leads to my next question.
How many inquiries have you budgeted for?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We haven't budgeted for a specific number. We've picked a reasonable number based on previous expectations.
Conservative
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I really don't know. There's no way I can tell, because it's up to MPs and--
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
But you have a budget, and you said you've budgeted a reasonable number. What's the reasonable number?
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
If I may, the budget wasn't based on the number of inquiries. Indirectly, it was, but it was about setting up an internal legal shop. It was about having sufficient resources to deal with requests.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So you have no guesstimate as to how many inquiries you're going to have over the next year?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No, I have no way of knowing. All I can--
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
You have no way of knowing, but do you have a guesstimate? Certainly, you could look at--
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes, my guess would be three or four, but I don't know.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay. Mr. Coakeley said the budget might change depending on the number of inquiries. Based on that comment, are you suggesting that if you have more than three or four inquiries you might need additional funding?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I might, but I might not. It might be that they can be handled by my legal branch, by my advisors, and if it doesn't involve travel.... If all of a sudden I had an inquiry that involved a whole bunch of travel out to B.C. all the time or something, it might mount up.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Thank you, Ms. Dawson.
I hope if I'm still on this committee next year, based on the experience you've had, you'll have a better idea as to how many inquiries to expect.
But I want to share the balance of my time with my colleague.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
You just indicated I had a minute. Please give a minute to my colleague. You just told me that--
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
I do have a question, but I want to make a statement. I apologize for the outburst. Sometimes we get kind of intense.
The question is this. In the past, there was no requirement for the former commissioner, whom you replaced, to set forth the cost of an inquiry. Will you in the future? Will we be able to know how much money was spent on an inquiry?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes. I see no reason why not.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Okay. That was my question.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
