Evidence of meeting #21 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was complaints.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
That's right. Yes.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
How about yours, Madam McCarthy? It sounds like you might not have been a voluntary participant in the strategic operating review process.
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
I'll let Madam Michaud answer that, perhaps.
Director General, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
We sent a submission to the Minister of Justice to tell the minister what we were able to do and so on. It has been four years, and I have to tell you that our lapse is less than around 3%. This year it will be only $35,000, which is 0.2%.
Director General, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Yes, pretty close to the line.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Okay.
Madam Dawson, we do annual reviews, as we all know, and it sounds like you spend a fair bit of time doing that. How much would it save you if we did biennial reviews instead of annual reviews? You know, change is by exception. I can't speak for anybody else, but my stuff doesn't change from year to year. What would it save if we did biennial reviews or reviews by exception?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I don't think it would save much. Those annual reviews are fairly routine, and someone like you, who doesn't change very often, is very easy to deal with. It's important to see the ones who have changed. So personally I think an annual review is the appropriate length of time.
Conservative
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Yes. Okay.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
This committee published a report this past February, “Statutory Review of the Conflict of Interest Act”, which contained a number of recommendations. I'm not sure what you've done with that. Do you have any comments regarding that report, or the impact or doability of the recommendations?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I made a large number of recommendations in that report. I was happy to see that this committee studied it and supported a couple of those recommendations. But there could have been more, from my point of view. I guess we have to wait and see what the government does with it. But I stand behind my recommendations.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Okay.
Madam McCarthy, you talk about this strategic plan ending this year and a new strategic plan coming out. When does that plan get unveiled? Is there an approval process for that? Who vets that plan above your office?
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
That strategic plan is established by the commissioner. It is being done in consultation with employees and stakeholders. The consultations are starting in June. I think we hope to have it....
Director General, Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
By the fall.
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
By the fall; and it will be published on our Internet.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Is there an approval process for that? Does somebody approve the commissioner's plan, or is it totally within her purview to say this is what we're doing?
Assistant Commissioner, Complaints Resolution and Compliance, Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
She is an independent agent of Parliament, so she establishes her office's priorities based on her legislative mandate.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Madam Dawson, you talked about some employee empowerment measures; I think that was you, in your office. Can you describe those a little bit?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
What we've done is we've established a system. Instead of the executive committee always getting together to decide issues, we determined there are some that we can delegate to a subcommittee, basically. So that's our main measure that we have taken so far.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We also have suggestion-box sorts of things as well.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Without going into names or pack drill, obviously, you talked about self-initiating investigations. Is it possible to give an example of the kind of thing that would compel you to self-initiate an investigation?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It's usually exactly the same kind of issues as I get complaints about. Just off the top of my head, many of the reports that I've put out have been as a result of self-initiated investigations.
I would say that it's always the same kind of subject matter, whether it's by complaint or whether it's self-initiated. Sometimes it's from media reports; sometimes it's from citizens; sometimes it's from other members; and sometimes it's not an official complaint.
But it's under the various parts of the act. I don't think there's a preponderance in how they come to me, which kind.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
Ms. Dawson, thank you very much.
Mr. Hawn, that concludes the time set aside for questioning.
I'd like to thank the representatives from the Office of the Information Commissioner and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson for their presentation.
Without bothering to suspend the meeting, I think we'll go right into the votes for the consideration of estimates. We'll thank our witnesses for their presentations, and proceed right away to the meat and potatoes of our meeting, as it were.
OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF LOBBYING
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$4,015,579
(Vote 1 agreed to on division)
OFFICE OF THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND ETHICS COMMISSIONER
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$6,178,280
(Vote 1 agreed to on division)
OFFICES OF THE INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONERS OF CANADA
Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$9,897,674
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Vote 5—Program expenditures and contributions..........$21,949,100
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division)
SENATE ETHICS OFFICER
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$1,059,500
(Vote 1 agreed to on division)
Shall the chair report vote 1 under the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, vote 1 under the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, votes 1 and 5 under the Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada, and vote 1 under the Senate Ethics Officer, less the amount voted in interim supply, to the House?