Information & Ethics committee  It's the same with our office. As long as he continues to comply with sections 33 and 34 of the act, he's in compliance.

Information & Ethics committee  Exactly. He's beyond the two years. Therefore, he can accept any employment.

Information & Ethics committee  In our case, I can't comment on that. However, I know there's an average of 300 and some reporting public office holders who leave office during a yearly period—

Information & Ethics committee  I don't have the exact date—my apologies. It was early April.

Information & Ethics committee  At that time, we did have an interim commissioner, Ms. Richard.

Information & Ethics committee  When the public office holder contacted our office, the adviser was the one who received the information. The normal course of action is that, when a public office holder has a question with regard to their obligations under the act, they contact their adviser. When the adviser receives the information and then makes an assessment of that information, at that point in time, they look at precedents and they make a recommendation, or they contact their manager or me, the director.

Information & Ethics committee  Unfortunately, because of confidentiality issues, I did not seek permission from Mr. Bains to confirm when the advice was received.

Information & Ethics committee  I can say that there are currently no active investigations ongoing.

Information & Ethics committee  Waivers are in a section of the act. Therefore, in the case of public office holders seeking waivers for post-employment restrictions, we cannot provide those waivers at this point in time without a commissioner, because it's a requirement that the commissioner make that determination.

Information & Ethics committee  Not at this time.... However, as mentioned by my colleagues in May, we continue to monitor the activities of public office holders. If we have doubts, or if something comes to our attention that requires looking into, we will do that. We will do our due diligence on our side for when a commissioner is appointed.

Information & Ethics committee  Unfortunately, again, there's a lot of information that comes from either the public or the media, which we take into consideration when we review a file. Therefore, I can't comment on how many requests we've had or anything like that. However, if there is information brought to our attention, we look into it.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, today, I will address an important aspect of the Conflict of Interest Act: the post-employment rules that are administered by our office and found in part 3 of the act. These rules are in place to ensure that individuals who leave public office do not misuse their insider knowledge or influence for personal gain.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  And acceptable.

Information & Ethics committee  As well, in “Open and Accountable Government”, there are some very clear guidelines there for fundraising for ministers and parliamentary secretaries, which were added as well.