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.
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
My colleague can answer you.
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It was by email.
Conservative
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It was an exchange, so I—
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We can provide the—
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
You were asking questions. Is that why there was an exchange?
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I cannot tell the content, but there was a back-and-forth.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Were you asking questions? I'm not asking about the questions themselves.
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We were asking for clarification, which might be—
Conservative
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I don't recall—
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Was it the Prime Minister's Office or the Prime Minister himself?
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Was it the Prime Minister's Office or the Prime Minister?
Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
As the commissioner mentioned before, it was with the Prime Minister's Office.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Brock.
Mr. Bains, go ahead, please, for two and a half minutes.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Thank you.
Commissioner, just to confirm, this issue with the Prime Minister's travel is closed, right?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
There was another question raised today that I am a bit interested in. It was with regard to the issue of foreign actors. There could possibly be the potential for abuse related to travel, maybe travel sponsored by a foreign entity or actors who may wish to gain some leverage over MPs.
Do you share this concern at all in relation to, for example, a Hungarian think tank or something like that?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Any kind of foreign influence is something that is concerning.
What we do about it is a very difficult question to answer, but we would want to make sure that a decision in Canada is made by a Canadian and is not influenced by foreign factors.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Is this something you've come across? Have you looked into this type of matter?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No, it's not part of our work.
Liberal