Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right. The conflict would be in the minister—no, I'm sorry. There is no conflict rule on that. Let me just think. I'm sorry, I've confused myself. It's in section 16, which says no public officer shall personally solicit funds from a person if that would place the public

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. You're right, that's why I've gone so far on occasion as to say you might want to put a rule that says ministers and parliamentary secretaries per se should not solicit funds.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's the converse argument, and it's a matter of finding a balance there. I don't advocate that they not be allowed to fund; I just say that's one way one could go. The fact of the matter is the old system that used to exist was that parties were funded to some extent. That doe

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, well, the only problem is that if there's some kind of a thing that.... As I said in my introductory remarks, the problem under my act and my regime arises after the fact, usually. If you've gone somewhere and received funding directly from somebody, and they come to your of

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, it's a matter of degree, but that's not covered in my act at the moment, so I haven't had to worry about it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, I don't know what his chances are. Really, I'm not an expert in politics, frankly, and—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Oh, gosh, I don't know. It's not a number in the thousands or anything, but I do get letters from people from time to time, or calls.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Over the last five or 10 years, you mean?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the last couple of years? Oh, I don't know...maybe 20.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not here to cast stones at anybody. What I am concerned about is applying my own act. I have certainly made the suggestion that there are some aspects of the accountability guide that could go into my act, and then it would be enforced by my office. But I do not comment on o

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Frankly, I can't comment on the policy of this proposed legislation. I think this proposed legislation is going a long way to cover some of the issues. I'm a great believer in transparency and in making things public. Really, with respect to the details of exactly what ought to

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's only regulated if there is a conflict of interest situation.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't think Canada is doing too badly in comparison with other jurisdictions in having $1,500. The various limits are all over the board. It struck me that $1,500 wasn't terrible. It doesn't trouble me. I reiterate that it's too bad there isn't a general funding of the various

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I mused about actually adding the senior policy advisers into that group when I mentioned parliamentary secretaries, but there is a logical problem there. They are part of the political process, but they are not the politician who is getting elected, so I'm not sure they are suff