Information & Ethics committee  The award of this particular contract was decided by the minister's office and executed by the procurement office in the department.

Information & Ethics committee  It wasn't floating to other parts of the—

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  The Conflict of Interest Act puts the obligation on the individual.

Information & Ethics committee  We could—and I think this is probably a useful suggestion for the committee to contemplate—contemplate revising government policy to ask the question in a more explicit fashion: “Is there a potential conflict of interest in this matter?” However, that is not a question we asked

Information & Ethics committee  No, and that's because the obligation rests with the minister and her office.

Information & Ethics committee  Can we clarify the contract order you're referring to? The contract that was subject to the review by the commissioner was the March contract.

Information & Ethics committee  That was the second contract.

Information & Ethics committee  To be honest, Ms. Lantsman, I'm not aware of any, but it also strikes me as not being uncommon that ministers would seek communications advice.

Information & Ethics committee  I was at Finance for a very long time. No, I was not privy to the operations of the minister's office and indeed to communications in a more specific sense.

Information & Ethics committee  No. I would like to point out that the regulations governing the awarding of contracts within the public service make no mention of the concept of conflict of interest. That concept falls under a different statute, the Conflict of Interest Act, which applies to people like me, w

Information & Ethics committee  However, as Mr. Pilon also says, there is no specific mention related to conflict of interest. During the review process that officials must follow before approving a contract, it is—

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Indeed. There is fairness, but there is also integrity.

Information & Ethics committee  That's right.