Thank you, Madam Chair.
As you know, I'm not a regular member of this committee. I'm pleased to be here to discuss this very important topic. I only wish I had been here when the commissioner appeared before the committee on this issue.
Through you, I have a number of questions. I thank both of our witnesses for being here today and for what they contribute to Parliament as a whole.
Mr. Robert, I'm glad that you mentioned that Parliament has the exclusive right to regulate its own internal affairs, because in my view, many of these six recommendations are an overreach and intended to usurp that rule. However, I will leave that there.
The focus of my questions is this: I view the office of the integrity commissioner as being there to help members of Parliament. Unfortunately, as Mr. Turnbull suggested earlier, it has been weaponized politically and we've seen that time and time again.
As you quite rightly point out, the purpose of the code is largely reputational. I want to address this “protect” versus “prosecute”.
Do you agree with me, first of all, that the job of the integrity commissioner and that office is to help members of Parliament?