Evidence of meeting #36 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:15 a.m.
Bloc
Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Is that why you attended that fundraiser with Minister Paradis? Was that one way of thanking the minister?
10:15 a.m.
Vice-President, Montreal, Broccolini Construction Inc.
That wasn't the case at all, because the bid took place afterwards.
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
November 16th, 2010 / 10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Conacher, I'd like to learn a little bit more about your organization if I can. How many members do you have and how are you funded--Democracy Watch specifically?
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
Democracy Watch has about 1,000 members and we're funded by individual donations. In the four nationwide coalitions that we coordinate, we have 140 or so organizations, total, in those four coalitions, and several of them donate to the group.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Sorry, my comment was specific to Democracy Watch, because that's who you're representing today, right? It is Democracy Watch, I'm assuming.
So it's a thousand members and you're funded by individual donation. What's the maximum donation that individuals can give to your organization?
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
There is no maximum, but on average our donations are about $200 per person.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
If someone gave you $1,500, would that change your opinion on something?
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
Well, it depends on the mix of donations that you have coming in total.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
So depending on the size of the donation, your opinion would change on an issue?
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
Well, it would obviously have more influence if it was 100% of your donation for that period of time, annually.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
What is the largest donation that you've received?
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Okay.
Specific to the topic at hand, do you have any information with respect to any one of the bidder's qualifications to do work on the West Block?
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
How about with respect to the architects' finding that the building was in dramatic need of repair and they were extraordinarily surprised at the deterioration of the West Block? Can you provide me with any expert analysis on the architects'--
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
No, as I mentioned in my initial remarks, I am here today to talk about loopholes in the laws that allow situations to arise that raise lots of questions that are very difficult to resolve.
10:20 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
I appreciate that, because we're actually talking about the renovation of the building as opposed to other aspects. But since you can't provide any expert testimony with respect to the topic we're actually talking about today, then let me ask you this. With respect to the Federal Accountability Act, how does that act compare to other jurisdictions around the world, and how does that compare to all previous measures in previous governments?
10:20 a.m.
Coordinator, Democracy Watch
Well, of course it depends, given that it changed about a dozen laws in dozens of ways, on which particular law you're talking about. Overall, the Accountability Act took 29 steps forward in terms of changing the ethics rules, political donations rules, access to information, whistle-blower protection, but there were also seven steps backwards, mainly in terms of the Conflict of Interest Act and rules being removed from it that existed in the old conflict of interest code.
In total, it's a net positive of 22 changes in terms of accountability, but as I mentioned, there are many, many loopholes still open: enforcement problems that mean questionable situations can arise and the questions really can't be resolved in terms of accountability and responsibility.
