My next question is in the area of funding and the budget.
I come from the world of the municipal sector. I understand it's not quite the same, but there are some similarities from the perspective that we know that there have been quite a few complaints in Ontario at an integrity commissioner level.
The CBC had an excellent interview late last fall in which they said that, due to “a lack of provincial oversight and standardized processes, taxpayers can be footing 'excessive billing'” overall with respect to integrity commissioner complaints and files that are being investigated. In fact, they describe Ontario's local ethics watchdog system as “a cash cow in [the] Wild West,” because of the need for reform in that particular environment.
For me, it's about trying to understand what's reasonable at a federal level when we talk in terms of budget. I was just trying to compare. For example, I tried to compare it with provincial integrity commissioners, but they're difficult to find. I found, for example, that the City of Toronto has an integrity commissioner. You have a budget of $6 million, which will increase to almost $8 million, for 419 files. For example, in that same year of comparison, 2023-24, their budget was about $800,000 for 280 direct inquiries.
I'm just trying to understand. I know these are somewhat apples and oranges—I understand that—but how do we get to what is a reasonable budget? That, for me, is the concern of a budget coming to a parliament versus within a treasury board, where they would have standards to compare and evaluate.
What would be your comment with respect to that?