Evidence of meeting #57 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was workplace.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Has your overall workload increased a lot in the last several years?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think it's been relatively steady. I haven't noticed a big increase or decrease.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Fairly steady, yes.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Approximately how many inquiries or complaints would you get in a week against a fellow MP you have to deal with, whether you refer it, answer it, or whatever?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
From an MP or from the outside?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
I think it's somewhere in the order of about 10 or 12 a month that we get from the outside, and not necessarily against an MP. It could be a public office holder or someone else. Quite often it's complaints against ministers, because they're more heavily in the public eye. From MPs, I would say it's maybe four or five a year.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
When there's an issue raised in the House that ultimately gets referred to you to investigate, what's the average timeline that it takes for—I'll call it a routine kind of thing rather than something that's much higher—you to resolve that issue?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Sometimes we conclude that an investigation is necessary. We call it an examination under the act and an inquiry under the code. That can take varying lengths of time. Usually it takes up to a year, eight months or something, because one has to be very careful to get the facts accurate, and frequently there's legal representation that slows the process down significantly.
We deal informally with a lot, too. We get a complaint of one sort or another, either from outside or from within the House, and we always take a look at it. Generally, we call up the person complained against and say, “Look, this has come in, what do you have to say?” We'll hear what they have to say. We may do a little bit of other inquiry, and then we decide whether it's something that we ought to formally look into or not. Then we communicate back with the person who has complained as well.
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
I have to interrupt you because we have gone a little over the time allowed for this period of questions.
I just want to remind members of the committee that, at the moment, we are conducting a study on sexual harassment in the federal work place and not on the behaviour of members of Parliament towards their constituents. I just wanted to clarify that a little bit.
Now we move to Ms. Amber, for five minutes.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much to both of you for being here today to talk about your departments.
Just to be clear, and I appreciate the chair's intervention just now, the 10 to 12 complaints and the questions asked by my colleague across the way, they're not harassment complaints in any way.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No. I kind of went on to my own domain there a little bit. I apologize.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Right. I just wanted to make sure because we're always asking about statistics and numbers. To be clear, your department's had one overall, not 10 to 12.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
That's right.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
I just wanted to make that clear. Thank you.
I want to continue along the lines that Ms. James was talking about with regard to the examples and your code. You mentioned something with regard to touching being inappropriate. I'm wondering, to use an old word, what level of fraternization is accepted in the department at the commission? Is dating prohibited among employees?
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
It's not specifically prohibited. I can't imagine—
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Sometimes it's a fine line. People often meet at work. I would think that if a couple begins dating, because they met in the workplace, everyone accepts that as quite normal and a great place to meet a future mate. But, obviously, it could also be a problem if the attention from one employee is unwanted from the other. That's why I was wondering if your code mentions dating.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
No, we've never had an issue like that come up. With 70% women, there's not that many different sexes there anyway.
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
If I may add, although it's not prohibited, if it were to happen, of course—
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
I was going to use the Seinfeld line, but I decided not to.
Director, Corporate Management, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
We would look at the reporting relationship between the two individuals, because, of course—
Conservative