Government Operations committee  Brian, you may have something to say. I would also say in prefacing any observations my general counsel makes that this generally underscores—and I'll go back to my opening remarks and my own background and my own professional training—one of the great disadvantages of any adjudicative process, and that is time and backlogs and money—and the costs, which are both emotional and financial.

Government Operations committee  One possibility that comes to mind as we're discussing this point—

Government Operations committee  That's an ongoing challenge for us.

Government Operations committee  I was going to mention the existence of a procurement ombudsman. I can't speak on behalf of that office, but my understanding is that office was specifically put in place to add a layer of protection and a faster way of resolving procurement disputes, conflicts, questions, problems.

Government Operations committee  I think the provisions in our act with respect to contractors are probably not well known even by many contractors. This goes back to the question about ongoing communication and education. It didn't come up with other witnesses as far as I can see, that those provisions actually exist in the law.

Government Operations committee  This also—

Government Operations committee  The act currently does allow any member of the public, not only a public servant, to come forward, which I think is a really compelling and important part of our act. Any member of, for example, that contracting company, any employee, could come forward with an allegation of wrongdoing.

Government Operations committee  A contractor wouldn't have access to the tribunal for reprisal under the current system. Maybe access to the tribunal would be a means of addressing that.

Government Operations committee  Regarding access to the tribunal, with its attendant issues, for some people when we did our focus group testing—the results of which we've shared with you—one thing that came out loud and clear was that when they saw that after an investigation we bring them to the front door of a tribunal with the associated formalities, even though every honest and good effort is made to keep things as informal and as expeditious as possible, the very fact of being brought to the front door of an adjudicative process can be very intimidating.

Government Operations committee  She could come to us.

Government Operations committee  She did not come to us, ever.

Government Operations committee  That, I assure you, is my goal and my role as commissioner. Whether or not we can do that through one piece of legislation, whether we do that through larger cultural change, whether or not we do that through increased communication, information, awareness, sensitivity training, a different organizational culture, it's a very daunting challenge, but one that we have certainly identified as recently as this week with our research paper.

Government Operations committee  No, she chose the courts instead. I don't think when Ms. Gualtieri made her...that our office even existed at that time.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely.

Government Operations committee  We have from my office. I don't want to sound overly defensive, but as a micro-organization with 30 people, I have three full-time employees working on education, as well as parliamentary relations, to try to get those messages out. I mentioned the video, for example, and I mentioned that the Treasury Board has the statutory obligation to disseminate information and create a more positive climate, so I would be interested to hear this afternoon's testimony.