Information & Ethics committee  I don't have an interpretation bulletin specifically for a public office holder. Actually, there is one. It doesn't specifically say “public office holder”, but it is if you are communicating with a public office holder, which would include members of Parliament. The one docume

Information & Ethics committee  Well, right now I have 25 full-time employees, but I have three staffing actions, so we hopefully will have 28 in the near future. In terms of monitoring activities, almost 30% of my budget, that is of the FTE count--sorry, person, easy on the bureaucratic terms--is involved in

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, but everybody is keeping an eye. I have one person dedicated to it. It's the one thing.... We're doing a lot even with 28 people. I have five investigators, or actually I'm in the process of staffing for one of them.

Information & Ethics committee  In terms of what we have right now, in terms of what we're finding.... I mean, with the monitoring that we've done and with 90% of individuals actually being registered, it would seem it's a good use of resources right now.

Information & Ethics committee  The act itself provides for a number of exemptions in terms of any oral or written submissions made to the committee, or the Senate--so appearances such as this--and any oral--

Information & Ethics committee  It's (a), (b), and (c).

Information & Ethics committee  It's any oral or written communication made by an individual or person or organization with respect to the enforcement or interpretation of the act. So, for example, someone who's even calling my office to get clarifications on the Lobbying Act or some of its interpretations is c

Information & Ethics committee  Generally speaking, I do not have an example of a case where a lobbyist arranged a meeting with someone, but the act is clear: it is incumbent upon the lobbyist to comply with the act. If you know of any examples, please tell me, because I take allegations....

Information & Ethics committee  That's (c).

Information & Ethics committee  I don't....

Information & Ethics committee  It would probably make things easier in some respects. In terms of the different legislation, when I look at the office of Mary Dawson, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, there is some overlap between our two definitions, but our acts are targeted at sort of diffe

Information & Ethics committee  The first thing I would do is to decide whether to open what we call the administrative review, which is a fact-finding exercise to gather information. It conducts searches of publicly available sources and does interviews. I am then presented with a comprehensive report that all

Information & Ethics committee  There were three recent cases I actually referred to the RCMP. After opening an investigation, I determined that I had reasonable grounds on which to say there was an offence under the act, so I referred it to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Something I should point out is t

Information & Ethics committee  There is a protocol. If I have reason to believe that an investigation is necessary to ensure compliance with the act or the code, for example, because the activities that have occurred, that have been brought to my attention, are sufficient. But if during that investigation I ac

Information & Ethics committee  With the act coming up for review, I've been looking at it. I recently issued the guidance on rule 8. I think for this year it's more looking at the actual existing code and seeing whether we should be providing guidance on some of the other rules. With the act coming up for revi