Government Operations committee  I don't think so. I think we could continue to do the job with our current budget.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the commissioner has considerable discretionary authority. It is up to me to define how that discretion is exercised. Right now, we are working on identifying the criteria and factors involved.

Government Operations committee  We have the discretion, for instance, to refuse to deal with a disclosure if, in our opinion, the subject-matter of the disclosure is not sufficiently important. We need to define what constitutes "sufficiently important" and determine where the threshold lies.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. Take, for example, an allegation of the misuse of public funds, involving a public servant who used a taxi chit after regular working hours. Is it worth investigating that disclosure and submitting a report to Parliament for five or six dollars? What the public servant did is not acceptable, but it does not necessarily constitute wrongdoing.

Government Operations committee  We're in the process of finalizing a list of possible amendments. For instance, I think it would be very important for the office to have the authority to use evidence that comes from outside the public service, in other words, the private sector. Currently, we don't have the right to obtain that information, and from time to time, that hinders our work.

Government Operations committee  Pardon me?

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Yes. I wanted to broaden the definition of "wrongdoing", so that the person making the disclosure could share the information with everyone in the chain of command and not just their immediate supervisor. That's a restriction in the act right now. I would like to provide for more possibilities and broaden the scope of that definition, as well as others.

Government Operations committee  Certainly, Mr. Chair. I would say that one reason we have so many cases that we do not deal with is that we are not the right place to come to. We have great discretion under our act to direct people to the appropriate place. People come to us thinking, for example, that we might be one of the other agents of Parliament, or that we are the Auditor General, or that we are the Public Service Commission.

Government Operations committee  Certainly, Mr. Chair. I will start answering the question by saying that we have had our challenges within the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commission. What I have been able to demonstrate, and will continue to demonstrate, is a perseverance and a resilience and the ability to focus on success and to follow my strong, unshakable, belief in the value of the role of our office, with a commitment to lead it to success.

Government Operations committee  I would say that in order to understand the whistle-blowing regime, one must look at the role we play as an external investigator. There's also an internal regime that is administered by the Treasury Board. I will only be able to speak, of course, about our external regime. My starting point is that the vast majority of public servants serve honestly and with integrity.

Government Operations committee  I think part of the ongoing challenge that we face—and this is largely cultural—is that I don't know if a single piece of legislation can change this, given the discussions I have on a regular basis with the administrators and managers of whistle-blowing regimes in other countries and other provinces and territories.

Government Operations committee  We have a strong focus on reaching out to public servants. They are our prime stakeholders. For example, just before Christmas we released a video that we're quite proud of, explaining to potential whistle-blowers what their options are, what their rights are. We have been instituting, since January, a new way to reach out to deal with public servants at all levels, using people at all levels within our organization.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. I believe that a profound understanding of the public sector is necessary to fulfill the duties of the Commissioner of Public Sector Integrity. This is the domain in which we work. This is the structure within which we investigate and within which we make recommendations for corrective action.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to all committee members. Mr. Chair, thank you for acknowledging receipt of my letter of March 13. Again, I do apologize to you and all committee members and assure you of my ongoing respect for your committee and my absolute understanding of my obligation to appear before you.