Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Commissioner.
I want to look at some potential loopholes under the Lobbying Act, with a view to closing them.
In September 2024, Mark Carney was appointed by then prime minister Justin Trudeau as the chair of the leader's task force on economic growth. In this capacity, Mr. Carney had direct access to the prime minister. Indeed, Justin Trudeau touted Mr. Carney as his economic adviser.
Normally, the economic adviser to the prime minister would be housed within the Prime Minister's Office. In this case, Mr. Carney technically was not. He was instead held out as an adviser to the leader of the Liberal Party, who just happened to be the prime minister. Had Mr. Carney been housed in the Prime Minister's Office, he would have been a designated public office holder under the Lobbying Act. Isn't that correct?