Information & Ethics committee  Thank you for the question. The recommendations did inspire me, in part. I have a very good working relationship with Mr. Routhier, Quebec's Commissioner of Lobbying. We keep in touch. I believe I have inspired him and he has inspired me. Our lobbyist registration regimes are not quite the same.

Information & Ethics committee  The Lobbying Act is intended to regulate lobbyist activities. One of the recommendations proposes that any activity or communication that meets the criterion defining what a communication is under the Act, for example, should be automatically recorded. Currently, there is the issue of interpreting what constitutes a significant part of someone's duties.

Information & Ethics committee  It would be an honour for me as well.

Information & Ethics committee  I did, in that last fiscal year, and I actually just submitted one in the last month, so I've added another one. As of March 31, I had sent three to the RCMP, which makes 10 since my arrival.

Information & Ethics committee  I can't confirm whether or not I'm investigating or where I am in my stage of reviewing that particular file. I don't believe that Commissioner Dion found that Mr. MacNaughton had been lobbying, because that's not in his power to decide. He said he had had communications with public officials—

Information & Ethics committee  Exactly. The Lobbying Act says.... I didn't say that Mr. MacNaughton did not lobby. He did, but he's entitled to, up to a significant part of his work. What am I supposed to do? That's how the act has been—

Information & Ethics committee  With a team of 28 employees, you get to know your employees very well. They are so dedicated and so professional. Everyone needs to step it up. There is no depth; everybody wears a multitude of hats, but no one wears the same hat, so it's demanding on them. In order for them to be productive and meet the demand the way we had to this year, because on all fronts our numbers went up, they had to work extremely, extremely hard.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, we have. The House of Commons is number one. That means that members of Parliament are approached by lobbyists most often most. The Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development is number two, and the Department of Finance is number three. I should note that the information is available in the Registry of Lobbyists.

Information & Ethics committee  Of course, I would really like you to read the 11 recommendations I made and for us to have a chance to work on them someday. I would also recommend that you take good notes when you meet with lobbyists and inform them of the rules that need to be followed, since they may not be registered and they may not know them.

Information & Ethics committee  —in the last year, we have updated our registry. We're always looking for ways to improve our tools and the documents that we provide. We have just set up a little survey to ask people how they find our material, whether it's useful, and what else we can do. We never say no to any invitation.

Information & Ethics committee  According to the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, they are required to tell you who they represent, on whose behalf they are meeting with you. If they are consultants, they are required to tell you who their client is. If you're going to meet with members of an association, I recommend that you make sure that your team provides you with the necessary information about them, whether they are in the registry.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you.

Information & Ethics committee  Certainly. The registry is an automated system that, in the last year, wasn't really accessible through a mobile, so now we've done that. When our registrants go into the system, they have to enter the data all the time. One of the things we're looking for is maybe having a system in which they could use the data they've entered before rather than having to re-enter information.

Information & Ethics committee  I would have to review those particular circumstances to decide if there was a payment.

Information & Ethics committee  To answer your question, and I really want to stay away from talking about any specifics of the file—