Information & Ethics committee  I have prepared a fairly long list of outstanding issues, and partisan political activities are a problem that we have noted recently. A number of changes in this regard should be made. There is also the issue of gifts. After nine years, the rules surrounding gifts are still not

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, and honourable members of the committee, I thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you some observations from my experience in administering the Conflict of Interest Act and the Co

Information & Ethics committee  Including, but they're increasing still, of course.

Information & Ethics committee  Especially with the ministerial staff, it's going to come up.

Information & Ethics committee  You won't see specifics. You'll see without naming people. Where we've not opened a true investigation—they're called examinations—we don't talk about the people involved, people whose files have not been reported on. You will probably recognize some of the issues.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, but I also issue no end of general advisories.

Information & Ethics committee  It is based on the information we've been given about it.

Information & Ethics committee  No, that's personal information. That's private advice.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, but if I don't have the facts I think I need to make a decision, I may go into a full-fledged examination.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I almost always, depending on the way the thing came in, give them a written response. I say, on the basis of the information they give me, which is x, y, and z, that this is my decision.

Information & Ethics committee  If I hear that they didn't accept it and it was advice not to do it, then I would open an investigation.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, there is a lot of misinformation out there.

Information & Ethics committee  No. When you talk about auditing, you're usually auditing an institution or something. These are individual people with personal lives. To audit every MP as to what the heck they're doing—and it's not just their financial affairs, it's what they're doing—would take a huge organi

Information & Ethics committee  The act is somewhere around 2,500, I think. The code is somewhere around 308, or whatever your numbers are.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, 2,500.