I don't think it will make my job easier, mainly because, from a public service perspective, we play no role in the development of the policy on the code for members of the House of Commons, or the Senate for that matter. That is done under the auspices of the legislative branch of government, and we have no role in it.
I don't think it would change anything. I can't imagine that I would ever be asked to provide policy advice on the code for members of Parliament. To that extent, to combine them into a single act would just raise the question of how to structure the process of reviewing that act, and how to make amendments to it, given that you would have split policy responsibilities. Part of the act would be under the policy jurisdiction of the executive branch—the government and my office—and the other part would be under the legislative branch and whatever House committee is used to review the rules for members of Parliament.
This creates a certain logistical tension in how you would go about doing a review of a combined piece of legislation on a five-year cycle, as we're doing now. I'm not sure how that part would work. I don't think it's an insurmountable obstacle. I just point it out as something that would have to be thought through. You have the two different arms of government, the legislative and executive branches. We have very different roles vis-à-vis these two branches, and I have absolutely no role whatsoever to play in the code of conduct for members of Parliament.