There was the power to compel testimony under oath, for example, that a commissioner, unlike other officers of Parliament, has never used. In the special report on Air Canada in 2016, we recognized the range of the powers of other officers of Parliament.
I do not know whether this is mentioned in the report, but we learned through the grapevine that some officers of Parliament who often use the power to compel sworn testimony, do so automatically at the request, or the preference, of the institutions. Some of them say that it is better for them that testimony is compelled. Then they just have to say that they had no choice. My impression, with the departments I dealt with, was that they were people of good will.
One organization was an exception, That was clear when people from Air Canada testified before your committee. Air Canada's position is that they are competing with other airlines that do not have the same obligations, and that it is not fair. Air Canada has the obligation; Westjet, as an example, does not. There is some resistance with Air Canada, which was sometimes reflected in our reports.
When I think about it, I am not sure whether fining Air Canada $25,000, for example, for this or that incident would be worth it. It is the cost of two business class tickets to Beijing. It is peanuts for Air Canada. It would make the news, but I don't know whether it is an effective way to change behaviour.
The FCFA suggested that all the penalties could be used to set up a fund for language training. But a fund of that kind could be set up without imposing fines. The idea of fining Public Services and Procurement Canada because a construction site does not have a bilingual sign is not very useful. What use is it for one federal institution to fine another federal institution? Is it really going to change behaviour?
I am not sure.