Information & Ethics committee  You have no idea how happy I would be to review the Lobbying Act. The act calls for a review every five years, but nothing has been done since 2012. So it is high time for a review. In 2021, I appeared before the committee and was asked for recommendations. So I made some preliminary recommendations at that time.

Information & Ethics committee  Again, since my appointment in 2018, I have received 12 phone calls about receptions and whether lobbyists can offer them or not. They know that even if I say not to offer it, if you can accept it, they can do it. When people call us and ask if they can offer a $25 breakfast, we will usually say yes, but if they ask if they can give a $50 breakfast, and we say no, whether or not that has any weight is zero, because if they offer you the $50 breakfast and you eat it and nobody comes to tell you that you shouldn't have, it goes unregulated.

Information & Ethics committee  It's in relation to the lobbyist. They can only offer public office holders—public servants, members of Parliament, senators, ministers, their staff—$40 per event, per breakfast. We have asked for an $80 limit. In British Columbia right now, the annual limit is $100. Interestingly, in British Columbia, every time a lobbyist registers, they need to indicate the value of the gift.

Information & Ethics committee  For lobbyists, it's going to be $40. There is no confusion. It's an $80 annual limit. If this committee thinks that I need to raise it to $100, I will consider that, but there needs to be a signal that this is a reasonable amount. In fact, it's more generous than what public servants can offer to individuals whom they host.

Information & Ethics committee  Not all communications with public office holders are considered lobbying under the Lobbying Act. It's considered lobbying by a lot of people, but the Lobbying Act does not cover all of the situations that are communications with public office holders. The Lobbying Act needs to be reviewed.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, the location right now is not an issue; it's the communication itself and whatever was discussed as to whether or not it would be considered lobbying. Right now, if they're talking about getting a contract for an organization, that is not lobbying. From the perspective of the public office holder, I don't regulate that.

Information & Ethics committee  Possibly. I haven't put much thought into that one. I think that any communication with any of you should be transparent and that the level of influence or the level of decision-making power is not something that should necessarily be covered. I think all communications should be covered under the registry.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, exactly. Now, for the record, this is not a law firm that is registered to lobby, and they did a conflict-of-interest screen, so they were not in a conflict when they provided me with this legal opinion.

Information & Ethics committee  I'll give a charter analysis course 101. The first test is to examine whether or not the rule as written infringes any constitutional rights. When it came to freedom of expression, I am stopping people from lobbying for at least two years or a year, depending on the circumstances.

Information & Ethics committee  It's actually in the public domain that I have a service contract with Goldblatt.

Information & Ethics committee  That's in the public domain: Goldblatt Partners.

Information & Ethics committee  I have referred, since my appointment, 11 files to the RCMP. I know that there has been one charge laid, and they have returned five files recently to me. I haven't decided yet what I will do with that, so there are likely five or six still ongoing. Right now, I have probably 35 open files that are being looked at, either at the preliminary assessment stage or the investigation stage.

Information & Ethics committee  No, the definition of gifts would include favours and benefits. It's still included.

Information & Ethics committee  No. If you look at the definition of gifts, we've given a list of examples. It's quite broad. It's really any advantage.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.