The thesis in my paper that I mentioned is something that I've been advocating for some time. The Competition Bureau is currently situated as sort of a sector branch within ISED, the industry department. As a result, it has to report its administrative and financial responsibilities there. Sometimes when there is a program in the department that needs funding, it will be across the board, and the bureau ends up providing some of its budget towards superclusters or whatever the initiative is, taking away resources from the bureau. While I was commissioner, resources of our organization diminished over time as these asks continued.
In terms of the independence of our investigations, yes, the department is hands-off. We just give a heads-up that we're about to take an action, and that's the extent of it. I think there is a chilling effect when the department that the bureau is situated in and reports to is in the business of also promoting business. It's hard to be a referee against those businesses when your higher-ups are encouraging these companies through subsidies or grants. It creates a conflict. It's not transparent. It just chills, and the bureau's advocacy is chilled sometimes in certain sectors because of the activity of the department.
I'm just saying that it would be a lot cleaner and more efficient if Canada had, like the rest of the world, an independent competition authority not embedded in an industry department. That is the number one thing the OECD recommends to developing agencies not to do.