Government Operations committee  I would say it was, absolutely. First I defined the grid that would be used. But what are you checking for? Deloitte provided us with a group of five very competent professionals, at different levels, who were entirely devoted to doing this. They delivered it on time. Step two was to take the 70 files.

Government Operations committee  We're aiming for at least 85%.

Government Operations committee  And the performance appraisals of those responsible will be based on achieving that objective.

Government Operations committee  Under the act, a member of the general public can also disclose. The criteria and the conditions are somewhat different, but members of the public have access to this act as well if they witness a wrongdoing as defined under the act. I would venture to guess that a small proportion of 34 million Canadians actually know they have this right under the act, so I have to find an economical, effective way of reaching those Canadians.

Government Operations committee  That's right, on CPAC as we speak.

Government Operations committee  First of all, only the commissioner can decide to undertake an investigation. When somebody makes a complaint, it's analyzed, and a recommendation is made to me as to whether to conduct an investigation. If I agree with the recommendation and we launch an investigation, it's assigned to one of our six professional investigators, two-thirds of whom were recruited after December of last year.

Government Operations committee  I believe we need to educate and support potential claimants, as I was saying earlier. We need to provide support that is not technical in nature. That is what I am considering for the future for people who have nothing to do with decision making. I am talking about people who know the workings of the office.

Government Operations committee  I am focusing on having greater transparency than there has been in the past. Earlier, I mentioned that we will adopt a series of policies. We will explain how we reach our decisions. For example, the legislation provides that the commissioner may refuse certain claims, in certain circumstances.

Government Operations committee  There were seven investigations in the beginning. Mr. Boulerice talked about the seven investigations under my predecessor. Today, there are 35. I am not so reluctant to conduct investigations. I am less reluctant now because we are sufficiently staffed; we have doubled in size.

Government Operations committee  There are still two positions for a total of 37.

Government Operations committee  There were never 45. In theory we had the capacity to hire 45, but I prefer to have fewer people who are qualified over having more people who are less qualified.

Government Operations committee  In June, I had not thought this through. There are currently 35 people and we have two positions left to fill.

Government Operations committee  First, I want to say that I do not think I said the act was imperfect. I said that the act was poorly organized. That is not exactly the same thing. In fact, the sections are scattershot, but once you find the section you are looking for, it reads well and there is no problem.

Government Operations committee  When I was appointed interim commissioner, I always used the analogy of how the house was on fire so I focused on extinguishing the fire. I didn't think much about the world and the neighbourhood and so on. If I am appointed in a permanent fashion.... There was some work done at the international level by my predecessor.

Government Operations committee  I'm not planning any further structural changes at this time, because I think the organization needed and still needs some stability. So unless there is a reason.... There will be changes in the future, obviously, but none that are required at this point in time. I think we're merely starting to implement the management model we created in the last year.