I want to address something else.
You know, I have worked with Mr. Cooper on a number of different committees, and I can certainly appreciate his style. However, the whole “Guilty! Guilty!” thing is.... I don't know. It's effective as a social media clip, I suppose. That's not my thing.
The commissioner appeared before us and talked about what the act is intended to do. I believe the act came into force and was renewed a few times. What it intends to do is act as a guideline. Yes, there are some punitive aspects to it, as well there should be. However, this is not a court of law. It's to call members back into line when there are behaviours, actions, activities, omissions or something like that.
It's not even so much about the individuals themselves needing to be called back into line. Our concern is about Parliament as a whole, is it not? We want Canadians to have confidence in the workings of Parliament and in any serving member of Parliament. We certainly earn a well-above-average salary. I think we can all agree that we earn a healthy salary. It's public, as well it should be. Our expenses are duly advertised and made public.
This was before my time as a parliamentarian, but I seem to remember that there was quite a scandal around expenses. There was a senator who lived in Ottawa but was claiming a shack in P.E.I. or something. I don't know. Maybe someone here remembers the name. Was it a former journalist?