Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank the witnesses for appearing before us today.
Mr. Jones, you mentioned an issue that my colleague brought up in the previous panel with respect to politicizing complaints. In our code, we have stipulated that a member who requests that an inquiry be conducted shall make no public comments relating to the inquiry until the Commissioner confirms that the member who is the subject of the inquiry has received a copy of the complaint, or 14 days have elapsed following the receipt.
What are your thoughts with respect to the politicization of conflict of interest inquiries, whereby an MP can put forward an accusation or make request for an inquiry? It could be completely unfounded, but as you know, the job that we do is very much in the public domain and this could be spread through social media. The reputation of the member can then be tarnished.
Would you recommend that this provision be removed from our code?