Official Languages committee  We're going to have a different kind of justice system. You're right; when the commissioner forms the belief on reasonable grounds that there has been an offence under the act committed, then she's required under the law to refer the matter to the police. We refer it to the RCMP and then they investigate.

Official Languages committee  When she has reasonable grounds to believe an offence has occurred then she's required to refer it the RCMP.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  That's a hard question to answer because it's not exactly in our area of expertise.

Official Languages committee  I'm sure that we've received at least one. I know of one complaint against our office.

Official Languages committee  Personally, I consider administrative monetary penalties to be effective. It's a deterrent. I'm certain there are people who think differently, but that could be a possibility.

Official Languages committee  It's hard for me to answer that kind of hypothetical question. When the Lobbying Act was first enacted back in the 1990s, there was consideration of the possibility of having a voluntary registry of lobbyists. Parliament considered that and committee hearings were held and many people made representations.

Official Languages committee  We've filed 10 public reports related to the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.

Official Languages committee  In my opinion, the reports had the effect of informing not only the lobbyist who was the subject of the report, but also other lobbyists, of the obligation to comply with the principles and rules of the code, as those reports result in bad publicity. It's not much, but there are articles on the topic in the media for a few days.

Official Languages committee  We've seen that public reports tabled in both houses of Parliament were a way of discouraging lobbyists from not complying with the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. It's clearly bad publicity when a report names a lobbyist for failure to comply with the principles and rules of our code.

Official Languages committee  In effect, the commissioner does not have the power to issue a fine.

Official Languages committee  The act indicates that a person must be found guilty by a court of law for the offence to be sanctioned. Here, in Ontario, it's the Ontario Court of Justice that handles that. The RCMP conducts an investigation and the public prosecution office lays charges.

Official Languages committee  Under the Lobbying Act, there are offences for failure to register, lobbying while prohibited from registering, and in fact there have been prosecutions under the law. In our office, when the commissioner reaches the conclusion that there may have been an offence committed under the act, she is required under the act to refer the matter to a peace office, which are the words in the act.