If a lobbyist fails to register, just to register, and disclose what he or she is doing—not even act unethically, but he or she just fails to register—the penalty can be $50,000 or six months in jail. As politicians, you have decided—not you yourselves, but in the past—that failure to disclose lobbying merits that penalty. Well, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. Why has no government set that same penalty for violating the most fundamental, democratic, good government law that there is, which is the Conflict of Interest Act?
There have to be mandatory minimums. It can be on a sliding scale. Rob Ford should not have been faced with a mandatory sentence of being kicked out of office for what he did in Toronto. That's off the scale, and most commentators have said that.
The provincial government in Ontario is looking to change the Municipal Act to say there should be a sliding scale for offences, but there should be a mandatory minimum for every violation. If that's not in place, you're leaving the Prime Minister to do the penalizing. As I mentioned, 50 cabinet minister have violated the conflict of interest code, as it used to be, or Conflict of Interest Act, as it's been in the last 20 years, and only two have actually been kicked out of cabinet. If the enforcement rate is 4%, which it is now, that's not going to discourage people from violating.