Procedure and House Affairs committee  In terms of verifying the monthly reports, we verify roughly 5% a month. You can imagine now that MPs have been included...the last in October, I think it was reported that it was around 1,600.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes: a month. Thank you. So we are verifying with the designated public office holders in terms of the verifications of what has actually been reported.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There are two ways that an individual can be subject to a five-year prohibition. I've been asked this question in a previous committee in terms of privacy of information, but maybe I can answer the question another way. For individuals who are subject to the five-year prohibition, if they were designated under the conflict of interest and post-employment code—if they were exempt staff in a minister's office—and if they left prior to the Lobbying Act coming into force, they were subject to this five-year prohibition, to which there was no possibility of being granted an exemption.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am pleased to be here today to discuss my investigative process. I'm accompanied by Mr. Bruce Bergen, my senior legal counsel. As Commissioner of Lobbying, my mandate is to maintain a registry to educate and to ensure compliance.

Information & Ethics committee  No. As I said to the committee, there is something I would like some direction or advice on. On the reports that may come up or may be finalized in the summer, like the investigative reports for example, my thinking is that if a report is finished sometime in the summer and the House and Senate aren't sitting, these are something I should probably hold to the fall, when both houses are back, rather than finding a way to table by the back door.

Information & Ethics committee  I'd appreciate your views. Thank you.

Information & Ethics committee  Aside from being obviously paid and communicating, as you indicated, on a registerable activity, there would also be the test as to whether they're hitting the significant amount of time and whether registration for even the association would be registered.

Information & Ethics committee  According to the terms of due process, one of the reasons it's taking some of the time it does is to make sure I have all the relevant information before me, because people's reputations are at stake. In terms of the time, you're right: some of them have taken some years. One of the things is we were staffing up, as we have been doing over the last few years.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  That is a good question. The files that are going over to.... I can't comment on their priorities in terms of where my files fit. They do spend quite a bit of time going through them and discussing things, which is why sometimes I don't get a file back within a month saying “Sorry, we're not going to proceed.”

Information & Ethics committee  There's no evidence other than the reports to Parliament in terms of a code of conduct violation. It also depends on what we're looking at. If there are fines or jail terms as the penalty we're looking at, then yes, it's a very valid point, because there's been no evidence of anybody every being charged or jailed.

Information & Ethics committee  When I'm looking at the late filings—that's what I was saying with transparency—right now it's not worth sending something to the RCMP if somebody's late, even if they're late a couple of times, unless I clearly see they're maybe missing key policy decisions that are constantly occurring, so is there an attempt or negligence on their part.

Information & Ethics committee  Actually, I'm very pleased. I have full confidence in the staff and the director of investigations who I have running the directorate right now. Files that I get in front of me go through quite an extensive.... Once they even get on his desk, they're extensively reviewed to make sure that everything is there, let alone the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

Information & Ethics committee  Right now the only way I could.... Somebody would have to be criminally charged under the act. That is a possibility. I think that's something else, which is why the analysis might be interesting. I think the city of Toronto actually has the ability, if somebody is not being compliant, to deregister them from the system, which would then put them in breach of the act, depending on where we are in the sanction.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.