Evidence of meeting #112 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
In that case, yes, I am looking into some.
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
As far as code compliance is concerned, I probably have fewer than five files. It's mostly allegations of unregistered lobbying that I receive or see in the public domain.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
Last year, I sent them two, and I've sent them fifteen since I became commissioner. It depends on the case; I don't make them up. If I have reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has taken place—the threshold is quite low—I forward the file to the RCMP.
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
We always have about 30 files to review, on average.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
All right.
We are currently examining the operating budget of the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. Do you have sufficient funds to carry out your work to your satisfaction?
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
I wouldn't say I have enough to do it to my satisfaction, because I'm someone who would like to do a lot more. However, I only have 30 employees, even though I have enough money to have 37. We're in the process of staffing up, but it's hard to find people who have the skills to come and work for us. However, we're working hard on that and I hope we'll get there by the end of the year.
As for the budget, I had asked for much more than I received in the 2023 budget. I received half of what I asked for. We're doing a lot with the few employees we have. We could certainly do more with more money.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
In your case, the budget allocated to you is established by a decision of Parliament. It's not a recurring budget. It's a little different from what we do for the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, for example.
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
It's different. It's a decision that's made just like for any other department.
12:25 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
Because it affects the independence of officers of Parliament. In my case, it's not a big deal, because I don't regulate government departments, I regulate lobbyists. On the other hand, in the case of those who regulate departments, investigate them and then have to ask them for permission to have more funds, it creates an appearance of conflict as to their independence, in my opinion.
12:25 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
That's right. Does having fewer resources than you requested have an impact on the number of investigations you conduct?
12:30 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
It doesn't affect the number of investigations I do, because there's a team around me. My problem this year is that three of the six people on my investigation team are on parental leave, which has had an impact on compliance numbers.
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
You mentioned earlier that it takes a special profile to work at the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. What is the profile of the people who work for you?
12:30 p.m.
Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
It depends on the field. Certainly for investigations, we like someone who not only has investigative experience, but more importantly analytical skills and abilities. However, if we're looking to hire someone on the communications side, where there's currently only one employee, we want them to have communications experience. We're looking to hire someone in information management. In information technology, we need expertise in the language of our registry. Depending on the field, we need very specific expertise.
12:30 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
You know, when people think of the Commissioner of Lobbying, they think of investigations.