Thank you.
Welcome, Mr. Cooper. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.
As some of my colleagues said earlier, as part of this study of the Conflict of Interest Act, we met with the Commissioner of Lobbying, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, a number of lawyers and other representatives of civil society.
In the first part of today's meeting, we also had the opportunity to welcome Mr. Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council. He came to discuss our study with us.
We will certainly have other things to look at in future studies, but we are currently looking at the tools the act makes available to us and ways we could improve the act.
You often referred to China and Great Britain, but you also talked about British Columbia. A number of witnesses have told us that we have much to learn from B.C., which is a model in this area.
You also often raised the issue of independence. I was a bit surprised to hear you say that the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner was not that independent, but we'll look into the matter.
What makes you say that the process should be made more independent?
As a journalist, what experience are you relying on to comment on Canada's Conflict of Interest Act, which we are currently studying?