Information & Ethics Committee on May 16th, 2019

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

That's a lot to investigate.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Yes.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I understand your problems in regard to budgeting in that particular term.

The statutory review of the Lobbying Act is years overdue at this point. In your opinion, should Parliament direct this committee to have a review and examine the legislation as soon as possible?

[Nancy Bélanger]

That again is the will of Parliament to decide if the Lobbying Act needs to be reviewed. It works quite well, I think, although it has some issues that I would like to see resolved. I am prepared and I continue to get prepared to come before you if the review ever starts.

When I came the last time, I had four months under my belt in this position, and now I have about a year and a half. Every day there are situations that come up and I think, “My goodness, I wish that this could possibly be in the law.”

As I move along, I adjust the recommendations that I will make if I'm invited to speak on them.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Obviously, it would be a good thing if this committee were to invite you to speak since you have a number of issues that you could provide good, sound recommendations for.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Absolutely.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Chair, I hope that that is duly noted. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Yes, got it.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

My colleague, Mr. Angus, requested an investigation about SNC-Lavalin's lobbying practices. Are you going to act on that request? When we saw information in that regard we saw numerous lobbying attempts, as it were. Did that raise any red flags with you? Are you able to go ahead on Mr. Angus' request?

[Nancy Bélanger]

I will repeat what I've said. I can't comment on whether there is an investigation or not.

I do want to reassure the committee that very often when I get letters, I know what's going on already. We're really on top of...we observe what's in the media. We listen to what's going on in the House. We're extremely proactive. We do not sit and wait to see what comes on our desk from members of the public, from members of Parliament or from senators.

That's really all I can comment on that.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Now I'm into the thinking out loud. I'm interested in what you said in regard to the court's ruling on the Aga Khan. It seems to me that in regard to a benefit, the holiday may have been a benefit, but there was also the concern about the Aga Khan Foundation receiving funding. Is there not a benefit then to at least the Aga Khan through his foundation and wouldn't that raise some issues and cause a need to look?

[Nancy Bélanger]

Again, I think I will wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal to proceed.

What I can say to this committee is that if the decision remains, if the Court of Appeal does not overturn the Federal Court decision, it will mean that, yes, I will look at the matter again. It will also mean that the office will likely require resources, because it will mean that more people will be subject to the legislation. It will also mean that I may have to investigate a lot more files, so there might be some resource implications there.

Again, I will wait to see what the court says and I will abide by it.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

Very quickly, you talked about a mental health strategy. It seems to me that obviously, with all of the work your office does, your staff is under stress. I'm interested in the strategy. How are you going to cope with burnout and stress?

[Nancy Bélanger]

I personally am extremely demanding. I know that and I tell my staff that. But I also give them, every day, a big thank you. In the office I have a champion responsible for mental health. A committee sends us emails and sends us tools. We do activities. We have speakers. We very much accommodate people who we may feel are under stress.

We also do it with humour. I always tell people that we don't do heart surgery. What we do is extremely important. It's important for democracy. We take it extremely seriously. But at the end of the day, their health is primary to me and to them. Then we go about our day, and so far, so good.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Next up is Mr. Erskine-Smith for seven minutes or less.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I put my questions to the commissioner and I got the answers.

I will just say thanks for being here, and keep up the good work.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Commissioner, that brings us to the end of our questions.

[Nancy Bélanger]

That was fast.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Yes, it did go by fast. You weren't just dreaming; it did go fast.

[Nancy Bélanger]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Thank you very much.

Before we suspend, we have to vote on the estimates.

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF LOBBYING

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$4,406,633

(Vote 1 agreed to)

OFFICE OF THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND ETHICS COMMISSIONER

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$6,355,513

(Vote 1 agreed to)

OFFICE OF THE SENATE ETHICS OFFICER

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$1,231,278

(Vote 1 agreed to)

OFFICES OF THE INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONERS OF CANADA

Vote 1—Program expenditures—Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada..........$10,209,556

Vote 5—Program expenditures—Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada..........$21,968,802

Vote 10—Support for Access to Information—Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada..........$3,032,615

Vote 15—Protecting the Privacy of Canadians—Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada..........$5,100,000

(Votes 1, 5, 10 and 15 agreed to)

Shall the chair report the main estimates 2019-20, less the amounts voted in interim supply, to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Zimmer]

Good. I will do that.

We'll now go into committee business.

[Proceedings continue in camera]