I know, as a lawyer—as well as from having been a director of ethics—that sometimes it is my own choice to go beyond in order to avoid any perception of a conflict, despite the fact that the arbitrator....
For Canadians who are watching tonight, maybe there are different views on who's asking the questions and the lead-up to that, but the arbitrator of what the code is asking of me, as well as anyone in this room who is at the table, is the commissioner. He's the arbitrator of all that. We are not; he is.
When an MP does everything he can, proactively contacting the commissioner to ask him for guidance, and the MP asks for advice, the advice is confirmed in writing. You then put in a screen and voluntarily copy the commissioner, so he has a copy of the letter; he can tell anyone whether he's satisfied or not. He then confirms reception of that letter.
I would say humbly to this committee and to you, Mr. Chair, that when one has done everything that one can do to respect all the rules—which apply to me and all the members around this table—one should take stock of that and say someone has done what he should do. We should not politicize the rest, because that's not the role of this committee.
I appreciate that people may have different views about different things, but this is about the rules, the articles that are in the code and the arbitrator, who is the commissioner.