Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to come back to the conflict of interest screens, because to be quite honest, I don't quite understand them. One of your favoured fans, Duff Conacher, in a press release on October 15, representing Democracy Watch, had this to say:
In Democracy Watch's opinion, the Ethics Commissioner has actually violated the Act (section 25(1)) by failing to require public disclosure every time a public office holder removes himself/herself from a decision-making process because of a conflict of interest (the Ethics Commissioner has instead created a secret process that is not mentioned in the Act that she calls “conflict of interest screens” through which office holders secretly remove themselves from decision-making processes).
Now, as I understand it, in your discussions thus far with the chief of staff to the Prime Minister, and kind of what's related to this committee, that individual will be using the conflict of interest screens. That's Democracy Watch's criticism of them.
Can you explain to this committee how they operate in such a way as to refute Mr. Conacher's argument and to clear up the fog for us?