Information & Ethics committee  Without getting into the details, I think information has become available as a result of various proceedings before the courts over the last year that I was not necessarily aware of at the time I made the initial decision. Again, at some point in time I will have to make other decisions on these files to bring closure, and of course I will have to consider all the information in making that decision.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry, I did not understand your question.

Information & Ethics committee  The reason for referral is that there have to be some reasonable grounds to believe that offences may have been committed under the act. It will be up to the commissioner to decide whether the facts that were presented to him do warrant an investigation and to determine if, at the end of the day, in his own professional opinion, offences may have been committed.

Information & Ethics committee  The reference to the commissioner concerns only candidates and agents. I made no reference specifically with regard to the party. I referred the matter of all the transactions around the media buy program to the commissioner to determine whether offences, and what offences, could have been committed.

Information & Ethics committee  Not at this point, Mr. Chair.

Information & Ethics committee  This is the same.... No, this is the judicial court review application. It's two candidates out of 67 who have taken those proceedings at this point in time. It could have been 67, and initially it was close to 67. After discussion with counsel, it was agreed that two candidates would remain on the file as applicants.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman. As I indicated earlier today, I have made two decisions on this matter so far. The first one was to refuse to reimburse the claims presented by a number of candidates. That decision was challenged before the Federal Court under judicial review process. That judicial review process seeks to challenge the reasonableness of my decision.

Information & Ethics committee  What is referred to as the civil suit is the Federal Court review of the decision. There are only two processes that I'm aware of at this point in time. There's a process before the Federal Court seeking a review of my decisions and seeking a mandamus. That's one, and the other one is the investigation being carried out by the commissioner.

Information & Ethics committee  It was conducted by people responsible for the various programs in the organization.

Information & Ethics committee  It was mainly me.

Information & Ethics committee  Also participating were my director of communications and the commissioner's office.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  You mean the search?

Information & Ethics committee  There were three people at Elections Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  Outside of the commissioner's office, yes.