EVIDENCE

Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs NUMBER 010 1st SESSION 45th PARLIAMENT Thursday, October 30, 2025 Le jeudi 30 octobre 2025 Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs CANADA [Recorded by Electronic Apparatus] EVIDENCE October 30, 2025 Committee NUMBER 010 NUMBER 010 NUMÉRO 010 10 30 10 2025 2025/10/30 11:05:00 House Of Commons Comité permanent de la procédure et des affaires de la Chambre Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs PROC Chair Chris Bittle 1 45 PUBLIC PART ONLY -

PARTIE PUBLIQUE SEULEMENT

(1210) [ English ]

[ Pursuant to a motion adopted by the committee on November 6, 2025, the following proceedings are now public. See Minutes of Proceedings of November 6, 2025 ]

Grant Jackson (Brandon—Souris, CPC) :

I think part of the discussion today is just this issue about the forms going up before they came to this committee for review. As you know, that's a matter currently under consideration before the House as well. I just wonder if you could describe a bit how this happened. Was it a slip, which happens, of course, we understand that? If you could just describe in a bit more detail how this happened.

Konrad von Finckenstein (Commissioner, Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner) :

No, it was not a slip; it was an error of judgment by me. Basically, there are seven documents. Four of them are clearly new. The other three are existing documents, which were slightly changed to make them more user-friendly, etc. I filed them with you for information, but I didn't ask for approval because I thought they would really not need your attention because these changes were insubstantial, etc. Now, I was clearly wrong because, strictly speaking, if we were to make a change, no matter how minor, whether it's a spelling mistake or such, it should be submitted.

When this was pointed out by one of your colleagues, I immediately withdrew them, filed the original one and resubmitted here to your committee all seven for approval, both the four new ones and the three slightly amended ones. I also wrote to the Speaker and to the chairman apologizing for this error of judgment.

Grant Jackson :

Thank you for that testimony and your very clear response to that. I appreciate that sincerely. I'm sure colleagues will as well. [ Proceedings continue in camera ]