Evidence of meeting #9 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was public.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Members speaking

Before the committee

Greenberg  Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, United Kingdom House of Commons

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative John Brassard

Okay. Thank you for that direction. That closes that matter.

The second matter I want to bring up is the issue of witnesses for our Conflict of Interest Act study.

We have been reaching out to numerous witnesses from the lists that have been provided by all parties. The challenge that we're finding is that in the absence of any context for these witnesses, they're wondering why they're being asked to appear before the committee. Therefore, I'm asking all members of the committee to please provide a little bit of context for the witnesses who have been provided up to this point, so that we can relay that to them.

Oftentimes, I find that I've been answering questions that the witnesses have been asking us about the context of why they're coming or why they've been asked. After that, some have agreed and some have not agreed to appear, so I just need that context. It's for the sake of the clerk and the analysts when they invite the witnesses to appear.

The second issue is that there are witnesses who have outright denied wanting to appear before the committee on this study, so if there are other witnesses you would like, please furnish their names to the clerk as soon as possible.

We do have a list of witnesses who are lined up for the next couple of weeks, but the list is not reflective of the original list that was supplied. The witnesses who are coming are people who have been on the list and have been proposed by committee members and parties, but some of them will not be appearing before the committee, so if there's anybody else....

Mr. Barrett, go ahead.

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON

If we contact the clerk's office for the list of our witnesses who have declined, will she be able to provide that, Chair?

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative John Brassard

We have it all in front of us here. Absolutely, 100%.

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON

That's perfect. Thank you very much.

12:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative John Brassard

What I'm going to suggest is that we be a little proactive on that and have the clerk send it out to you, rather than having you ask the clerk for it. Then we can see where we're at on the witness list. If there's anybody else who needs to be added, I encourage you to do that. It's just a bit of a challenge we're having right now, so I just wanted to bring it to the committee's attention.

If there's no other business, I want to thank you all for your attention. Thank you to the clerk, the analysts and the technicians.

This meeting is adjourned.