That's a good segue to my next question. One of the members opposite, from the Conservative caucus, mentioned that the current law was actually brought in place at the time of Prime Minister Harper. In fact, during that time, there was a similar hearing with Mr. Nigel Wright, who was alluded to earlier in this hearing.
I want to cite some testimony from one of the Conservative MPs at the time in questioning Mr. Wright:
I just want to make a clarification, Mr. Chair, because there seems to be some misunderstanding in the way this has been debated by some members. On the term “private interest”, I will quote directly from the process for establishing a conflict of interest screen:
“Private interest” does not include an interest in a decision or a matter that is of a general application.
This Conservative MP believed that when there were decisions of a general application, private interest did not apply.
This MP went on to say the following:
And as such, we have to recognize that there are going to be people in this public service world who come from different backgrounds and who the government interacts with, obviously. But that is a strength for our country. We look forward to inviting people from various sectors, in this case the business sector, but from all sectors, to make a future contribution to our country.
Do you know who that member of Parliament was, Monsieur Blanchard?