This is an area in which I'm asking Parliament: is there a need or a desire to keep the criminal aspect in?
Right now, an infraction of the act is considered criminal, which is why I'm required, if I see a breach of the act, to suspend my file and send it over to the RCMP. There's quite a gap between education and those two extreme measures, referrals to the RCMP and reports to Parliament.
It could be that all of the powers of issuing administrative penalties rest with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying; that's one matter. Then there was a comment that we might want to go higher than $25,000.
Right now there's no option at my disposal. If I were looking at some of the unregistered lobbying, especially for not registering a meeting that was arranged, that's a breach of the act. If it's done when the individual is unregistered as a consultant lobbyist, I'm referring it to the RCMP. That's something for which I would, for sure, issue an administrative monetary penalty.
The situation yesterday was severe, so the question is, do we keep it criminal or do we give me the ability to issue an administrative monetary penalty that is fairly substantial?