Evidence of meeting #99 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 gift.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
I know you do. I'm going to go to the commissioner to start.
There are two minutes and 51 seconds—
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
You have always been quite vocal that we should put timelines on when we do things. Right now it just says it's going to come back to us.
Could we just put...? It doesn't have to be in the motion.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
By the end of the week I'll have something for the committee members. That's no problem.
Mr. Commissioner, go ahead with the response. Just remind me what the question was.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I had referenced that under subsection 44(3) of the Conflict of Interest Act, the commissioner is required to examine the matter raised by a request from a parliamentarian who has reasonable grounds to believe the public office holder or former public office holder had contravened the act.
I referenced the letter exchange that happened between our friend here from the Conservatives and the commissioner. I put to him, based on the act, that they must do this unless “the Commissioner determines that the request is frivolous or vexatious or made in bad faith”.
My question is, which one did he pick?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
My answer is you are looking at the wrong section of the act. There is no inquiry there for Mr. Barrett. Mr. Barrett sent me a letter and asked me a couple of questions. I answered the questions.
The portion that you invoked, subsection 44(3), which talks about frivolous, bad faith, etc., only applies if there has been a formal inquiry from a member of Parliament. I have answered it in the negative. It's not the situation that's before us.
Conservative
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
That's perfect.
That's important for clarity, because I was not part of the Standing Order 106 meeting. I wasn't clear about the urgency of this, yet here we are, wanting to be clear that it was just a general inquiry that was made and not a formal inquiry.
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think Mr. Barrett has put the letter on his website, has he not? You can see it. It's in the public domain.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
The letter has been distributed to members of the committee as well.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Mr. Chair, the commissioner said that it's posted. People can like it and share if they want more.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I'm going back to the issue of sponsored travel.
Even though that motion has passed, I think it's important to note that the topic brought up around foreign interference is an important one. I'm going to actually put in abeyance my partisan attacks. I won't name names, but there are multiple records of people who have taken travel sponsored by organizations, and they're individuals who have no real track record. Some of these trips are so expensive that I'm led to wonder, as an average person from Hamilton Centre, how they pay for them.
Ms. Robinson-Dalpé, when you're reviewing these trips, are flags ever raised when it comes to things like foreign interference when it comes to the price tags attached to these trips, versus people's reasonable ability to pay?
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Essentially, as we mentioned before, when we receive disclosures of sponsored travel, it's the members themselves who fill out the declaration. We review it to make sure that all necessary information and all supporting documents that are required under the code have been provided. In those cases, if all required information is provided, we make full disclosure of that.
It's in the public domain. All the information is there. We also prepare a list of sponsored travel every year. That way, the population of Canadians can see where it comes from and who provided it and then make their determination.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Has sponsored travel ever been the subject of an inquiry by the RCMP or CSIS as it relates to MP travel as part of an ongoing investigation—
NDP
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Not that I'm aware of.