Information & Ethics committee  I don't know that you can be sure. I think one of the problems with trying to put too much in the code is that it gives us the false impression that you can cover off everything, and you can't. There are going to be times when people accuse people of wrongdoing and it's entirely

Information & Ethics committee  I can see how it's a different exercise if you were working in a minister's office. Then there would be plenty of opportunities where you might have dealings with, for instance, the Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner. Isn't that what we're talking about?

Information & Ethics committee  They're not the same types of dealings that you would have with an organization that might be coming to lobby the minister's office. The relationship between the minister's office and the lobbying commissioner would be administrative, so I don't see a huge problem. At the same ti

Information & Ethics committee  I'll focus on this issue of the apparent conflict of interest. That is something that other codes do, including some of the provincial codes. Many codes actually outline what a real conflict of interest is, what a potential conflict of interest is, and what an apparent conflict o

Information & Ethics committee  If I were to emphasize an area to work on, the commissioner talks about the issue of getting gifts and other advantages. She makes the point that gifts $200 and over have to be disclosed. Ministers sometimes make the assumption that as long as the gift is within a certain monetar

Information & Ethics committee  To me, the legislation that's in place right now and the tone and substance of the recommendations put forward by the commissioner are very rules heavy as compared to principles. It seems to me that even if you look at the members' code, it strikes a more equitable balance betwee

Information & Ethics committee  I've made arguments in the past about how it might be better to focus on education and communication rather than penalization, compliance measures, and that sort of thing. It seems to me that the commissioner has quite a bit on her plate right now, and she'd like to add to the li

Information & Ethics committee  Particularly in this case when we're talking about the types of expectations that we can apply to people who have left public office. On the one hand, I understand what the commissioner is saying, in terms of wanting more information, wanting more regular and comprehensive report

Information & Ethics committee  —who has left public office, in terms of disclosing their professional life, and not only who they're working for. Her recommendations seem to want the details of what they're doing.

Information & Ethics committee  That's right.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. The rules in the U.S., for instance, are similar in terms of the overall objectives of what they're trying to do. They have a different approach in the sense that they get virtually an entirely new public service when there is a new president, so the applicability of the r

Information & Ethics committee  That's okay.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not going to go as far right now as to say “should”, but it's a difference that in some cases we might want to consider.

Information & Ethics committee  Unfortunately, I haven't actually travelled to Australia yet—

Information & Ethics committee  —but I've read.