Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, yes. The easiest way is if a member officially sends us a letter and complains about some particular activity.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  But there are 2,600 public office holders we also have to monitor.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The other problem, basically, is that if we don't know about something, there are so many possible things we could be looking for that it would be pretty hard to figure out what it was that we want to look for. The other thing as well is that there's a role for the Board of Internal Economy with respect to members, and we're expressly prohibited from getting onto their turf.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is difficult to say, because each staff member does a variety of things. However, we could probably say that three or four individuals are responsible for the code.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, that is a good idea. We are thinking along the same lines, for example with regard to donations. That is another example. We have to resolve a number of situations. It is sometimes difficult to make decisions.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be one option. It is up to you to decide.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do not think this problem is specific to us. We are currently experiencing a great deal of change within our staff. Last year, I believe we lost 8 staff members and hired 10. That is a significant percentage of our complement. In my opinion, the problem affects everyone.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We would be pleased to do so.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We received some questions about this point. I will ask Lyne to respond.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be participating in a business or being a director of a company or...there's a whole range. It could be as a volunteer in some philanthropic activity. It's anything that you're doing outside of being an MP.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Sorry, I was thinking code; we're in the act now. Basically there are prohibitions against certain of their activity. So as soon as they become...if we're talking about MPs or a public office holder, they have to simply desist. They have the 60 days to tell me about it because that's the first report they have to make, and then they have 120 days to finish getting rid of whatever the problem is.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There's an absolute...the act can't work perfectly, because there's an absolute prohibition against doing some of these things, but sometimes it takes people a little bit of time to extricate themselves from it. What I'm saying is often they can extricate themselves almost immediately, but sometimes it's not so easy.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe so. I'm open to any suggestions as to where we could continue to explain these provisions. We have sent the letter. We are having a session at the end of this month. It's interesting. We've had more inquiries I think from MPs than we have in the past about gifts. Is that correct, Lyne?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's a good suggestion, I think. As I say, I haven't thought through all the parameters, but that would probably be a good caveat.