Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, he has not. Let me elaborate. As I pointed out in the background document that I provided to the committee, under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, the attorney general does not have the authority to issue any directives in respect of Elections Act prosecutions, nor a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Under the proposal that was made last Friday, the commissioner of elections will report separately on the activities of his office. He will attach that report to my report, but it will not be something I'll be reporting on.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The difficulty would be if the prosecution function and the investigative function were vested in the same person.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I only know what I read. I think I read testimony from one witness who mentioned that was the case.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  They don't eliminate the perception problems that I mentioned. If you look at my testimony as a whole, the perception problems I mentioned are ones that could arise, and my conclusion is that they can be addressed by the safeguards in the statute and the administrative measures w

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. We were not consulted.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I read his testimony, but not the report that he tabled. I did not know that he had tabled a report.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We will continue to respect the independence of the investigative function. We respect it now, and we will respect it if this bill is passed.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not familiar with all the aspects of the bill. I have focused on those provisions that touch upon our operations. I don't know if there's something in the bill that enhances his powers, he being the Commissioner of Canada Elections.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. I'm not familiar with the history of the establishment of the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections. I just know that when we were established in December of 2006 the DPP was given authority to initiate prosecutions under the Canada Elections Act. That was a new auth

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, in my opening, I gave you the protections that I think the bill proposes and the other protections that will continue to exist. I mentioned that for the law the bill makes it very clear that the commissioner is to conduct his investigations independently of the DPP. We have

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Under one of the provisions of the bill, he in fact has direct access to the consolidated revenue fund for certain resources he requires. The requirement that's been imposed on the DPP by the bill would be that the DPP certify that the expense is appropriate. Now, that gave rise

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again that's a policy choice being made by the government and ultimately by Parliament.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can say that it will have to be made by Parliament.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again you're asking me policy questions that are just beyond what I can comment on.