That's a very good question. There's been some debate about the appearance standard in the age of social media. It's very easy now, for political opponents and people who are just generally looking to stir it up, to make allegations. They create an appearance of a conflict of interest, almost. I think that's something that has to be considered if you're thinking about including in the legislation a provision regarding the appearance of a conflict of interest.
One thing it suggests to me is that if an appearance of a conflict of interest charge is raised in the context of a social media campaign against an official, the commissioner has the latitude to say that there was no appearance of conflict of interest here but for the irresponsible allegations being made by certain social media outlets. That is a perfectly legitimate way for the Ethics Commissioner to resolve an issue. I don't know how you write that into legislation, but it's certainly a principle that I think should apply.
