Evidence of meeting #14 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was budget.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Right. Certainly the Canadian people would expect no less when it comes to ethical standards. Wouldn't you agree?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes, I would think ethical standards are ethical standards and they should be applied to everybody. Actually, my understanding is that the Senate code had some amendments over the last year that made it quite a lot more similar to the MP code than it was before.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
I think the main difference is that the Senate Ethics Officer has to go through significantly more steps to get to an inquiry stage. They have to request permission from a committee, for example, before they can go to an inquiry. In your case, do you think this would impede your independence if you had to do the same?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes, I do.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Okay.
Some senators appear to believe their code is superior to what we have in the House of Commons. If it is superior, do you think we should adopt it?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No, I think we're fine with our code. The MP code could probably stand some improvement too, but no. In fact, they've adopted a lot of the stuff that was in your code. I would suggest maybe it's going in that direction rather than the other.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
That would suggest that perhaps our code is superior to their code in some areas.
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I won't offer an opinion on that.
Conservative
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think they just did. Frankly, I haven't studied the current form of the Senate code to pick out issues.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
I hesitate to interrupt, but I think we should be careful about talking about the other place, because we don't have jurisdiction. The Senate is one of the elements of Parliament. Let's be careful not to go places where we can be quoted.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
That's fine with me.
Madam Commissioner, I thank you very much for your answers.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Thank you, Mr. Saxton.
I have Mr. Siksay, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, and then Mr. Dechert. Unless there are any other members who have questions, we'll finish there. I should also indicate that because Mr. Poilievre is out of the country he's unable to be here to move his motion. We'll carry it forward, meeting to meeting under committee business, to be dealt with when it's appropriate to deal with it.
Mr. Siksay, go ahead, please.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Dawson, Ms. Simson was asking questions about the vacancies. Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if you can tell us what skills you're looking for in compliance officers. What are the requirements of that position?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Well, people must have good analytical capacity, good interpersonal relations, good written expression. Those are the main ones.
NDP
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes, some financial experience. We have to deal with trusts and financial information.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Is there a typical place where people come from to do that job? Do they come out of the financial sector? Do they come out of a law background? Where do the folks who do that come from?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think it's varied.
Lyne, can you help?
Assistant Commissioner, Compliance and Advice, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Many of them have a law background, because of the research, the act, and the way we have to analyze and review the information. It's very similar to what a lawyer is used to doing.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
You mentioned the difficulty of being a small organization and losing folks to the public service. Have other small organizations that relate in the same way to the public service...? Have you ever gotten together to talk about the staffing issues that you might have in common and how you deal with it?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I don't know that we've gotten together for that purpose, but certainly I think it's very common. I certainly shared with my colleagues, my parallel organizations, similar problems everywhere.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
It's very familiar to me, as someone who worked for the NDP as a staff person for a member of Parliament for many years, that the only way I could get a promotion was to run for office. When you describe the situation, I know small organizations on the political side of the House face some of the same issues.
I wanted to ask about the website. You've launched some new initiatives, I think since you were here last time, to put registry and other things on the website and tried to improve access and ease of access. Have you had any feedback from the public about the changes you've made there?
Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We had quite a few MPs finish up their files as soon as the thing went up on the website. I don't know what the numbers are, but a lot has gone up in the last couple of weeks.
I think what we have is well received, and I'm happy with it.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Have you noticed any increase in hits on the website or greater use of the website, or anything that you know of like that?