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
If somebody has a conflict of interest because he or she is being influenced by a foreign actor, of course it would be a concern to us.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
If a complaint were to be brought forward of this nature, would you look into that matter?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
If the complaint was well-founded and it met the threshold, yes, we would look into it.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Is this an area we should maybe examine with respect to the code or the act?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
This whole issue of foreign influence has many aspects, and this is one of them. As I mentioned before, we have a national inquiry right now on the question of lobbyists, etc. I think you want to look at it holistically and not just within the aspect of foreign travel under the Conflict of Interest Act.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Could an element of foreign influence or something of that nature with respect to sponsored travel be something we could visit?
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It could be part of any future amendments to the Conflict of Interest Act, yes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Bains.
That concludes our meeting for today.
Commissioner, I want to thank you for taking the time. I know it was on relatively short notice, but you made yourself available to the committee. I want to thank you for that.
Ms. Robinson‑Dalpé, thank you for being here today.
Before I adjourn the meeting, Ms. Fortier has some bad news for us.
Ms. Fortier, I invite you to address the committee.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My brief stint on the committee will probably end today, or very soon, because I’m joining the whip’s team. Obviously, there will probably be some new faces at the committee. I just wanted to say farewell to the team and thank the clerk and analysts for their work.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Ms. Fortier.
Again, Commissioner, thank you on behalf of the committee and Canadians.
That concludes our meeting for today. Thank you to our clerk, our analysts, and our technicians.
We'll see you all Thursday, when the Privacy Commissioner will be here before the committee.
The meeting is adjourned.