Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to direct my questions to Madame Sabourin or Mr. Shore, whoever wishes to answer.
I've read your fairly comprehensive brief. I want to ask you some questions about recommendation 12 of the lobbying commissioner with respect to reporting.
You state in your brief that “the current framework [that] focuses reporting requirements on oral and arranged communications...appropriately balances transparency objectives with the practical realities of governance” and that the recommendations of the lobbying commissioner with respect to reporting are “fundamentally impractical”. You said that in your brief, and you said that in your testimony today.
Now, the lobbying commissioner has made a number of recommendations around reporting, but in recommendation 12 specifically it looks pretty straightforward to me.
It is simply that “communications...oral [and] written” would be captured and that what would need to be registered is that a communication in respect of what, in substance, is lobbying took place, as opposed to “who initiated” it—whether it be the lobbyist or a public office holder. For a public office holder who initiates the communication, what is burdensome about having to report that?