Thanks.
I want to follow up on where Mr. Lukiwski was. The Commissioner of Canada Elections said—this is his quote when he spoke before this committee—“Indeed, I must stress that, as commissioner, I have enjoyed complete and unfettered independence with respect to the conduct of investigations and the choice of enforcement action, including the decision to refer a matter to the DPP.”
Unless the government can give us one example, one concrete example, that would justify making this move, we have every reason to be suspect as to why they're doing it. The fact remains that the commissioner of elections, even if it's just checking off a box, will have to get the approval of somebody who is a deputy minister accountable to a minister—which puts it into the political realm—in order to spend money. Everybody says there's no problem, that it will just be a formality, that there will be no judgment calls and everything....
So my question would be, sir, would you see any problem, then, with an amendment that would allow the commissioner of elections to have direct access to the consolidated revenue fund to spend money on investigations without having to get your interim-step approval along the way?