Ms. Nancy Bélanger (General Counsel, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner) at the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee

I would simply add that in the lobbying regime, it was a code of conduct; it was not enshrined in law. In our piece of legislation, we actually have a definition of what a conflict of interest is. It's giving an opportunity to a member. So the concept of just an appearance or an attempt is in there when you have an opportunity, but it's looking at the issue from the lobbyist's perspective, and the other one is from the public office holder's.

So I would say that the Federal Court of Appeal's decision on the lobbyist issue is not quite on point, because we have a definition of conflict of interest in our act.