Evidence of meeting #74 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was penalty.
A recording is available from Parliament.
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Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No.
As we said in our initial presentation, once the information is publicly disclosed, people don't want to see their name mentioned in the media.
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Director, Advisory and Compliance, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Exactly.
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Senior Counsel, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
At our office, we have a compliance monitoring process. The first time a person contravenes the rules, they receive a letter from the director of registrations and client services. If it happens a second time, we open an administrative review file and the person receives a letter from our director of investigations. The third time—although that's a hypothetical situation—the commissioner sends a letter to the person in question.
In general, I get the impression that we have good information and that this process works well for us. In fact, after the second letter, people respond that they will develop a process for complying with the Lobbying Act and ensuring that the monthly communication reports are sent within the required time limit.
From my perspective, this is our alternative to administrative monetary penalties. It's been working fairly well, maybe not 100%, but quite well.
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NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Unlike the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, you have the power to penalize, in a quasi-criminal manner, offenders who commit very serious violations.
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NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Is that what you've done about 10 times over the last 5 years, or is that something else?
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Senior Counsel, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
No. The commissioner has, on 10 occasions, prepared reports regarding lobbyists who did not comply with the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. A few other times, we referred files to the RCMP.
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NDP
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Senior Counsel, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
I'm not sure of the exact number. I'd say 10 to 12 files.
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NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
So it's still about 10 files that have been transferred to the RCMP over the last 5 years.
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Senior Counsel, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Yes, over the last 5 to 7 years. Of those files, 5 people were found guilty by the court. Various levels of sanctions are possible. I believe the penalties range from $20,000 to $50,000.
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Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Alupa Clarke
Unfortunately, that concludes our time with witnesses for today.
On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Bergen, Ms. Robinson-Dalpé and Ms. Koulaib, for coming to answer our questions on such short notice. You can rest assured that you have contributed tremendously to our study.
I remind you that our goal is to understand what your offices would be without the power and authority to impose real penalties. If you think of anything else, feel free to contact our analysts or our clerk by email.
I also thank you for the work you do to help maintain ethics in our society and to ensure that lobbyists abide by the law in Canada, while informing us of problems that arise here.
Thank you very much.
I don't think we have any committee business to deal with. Everything is in order for our return in a week and a half.
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Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I'd actually like to ask one question, Mr. Chair.
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Liberal
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Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Alupa Clarke
One moment, Mr. Samson. First, we'll let our witnesses take their leave.
I'll therefore suspend the meeting for a moment, and then we'll come back to discuss committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]