Public Safety committee  The legislation proposes a compliance regime or some number of compliance regimes, but I'd like to start the answer by giving an example. It might be the best way of appreciating how the bill proposes this to work. Somebody may, for example, forget to register their activity. It's a good faith error.

Public Safety committee  That's a very good question. Chair, I'll leave issues of beyond a reasonable doubt and things like that aside. Establishing whether an arrangement exists between an individual and a foreign state will be a matter of the facts of the situation. The commissioner will have investigative tools and the ability to compel information to try to determine the relationship between an individual and a foreign state.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Chair, for—

Public Safety committee  Thank you for that, Sébastien. The estimate of a year is based on the number of regulations that need to be brought forward and promulgated by the Governor in Council. It also requires actually setting up an office. While the proposal in the bill is to establish it within a department, it does require staffing up an office, for example, and hiring a commissioner.

Public Safety committee  I think we're at your disposal. We will be here to support the work of the committee and answer your questions. We will stand ready at any point in time to support that work.

Public Safety committee  The regulatory framework that will underpin it will need to be developed. Parts of this need to be further identified. For example, administrative monetary penalties are a tool that will be available to our commissioner, who can impose an amount of penalty if—

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. We've spoken, Chair, about a few things in the legislation for the foreign influence transparency registry that would require the bringing into force of regulation. For example, individuals who are required to register will have to supply the commissioner with a certain type of information.

Public Safety committee  Is your question directed at the regulatory framework that would apply to the foreign influence transparency registry?

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. Ultimately, after consultation, the Governor in Council will choose the person who becomes the transparency commissioner. That's what's provided for in the bill. Then it will be up to the authorities to decide on the experience and skills that person should have.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. It's really not up to me or my colleagues to make that decision, but you can still look at the job requirements for other types of commissioners who hold similar positions. That might give you an idea of what kinds of skills and experience are being sought.

Public Safety committee  That's right.

Public Safety committee  That is correct.

Public Safety committee  Amendments to the bill will be up to Parliament. The legislation proposes a number of elements that would make the commissioner independent in their decisions to pursue action, and those are built into the legislation.

Public Safety committee  A year is what we are currently estimating it would take to set up the registry. That's taking into account—just to get into some level of detail—regulations that are required to launch the operation of the regime. There are some pieces of regulation that are necessary to do that.