I am just talking to everybody here. I mean, there is no need to be defensive. Taking notes is a very fundamental principle. For example, when I sought approval from the Conflict Commissioner with respect to a certain issue and received that approval, there was no record of it. When I asked questions of her in a meeting with respect to specific concerns I had, there was no record of any notes of that meeting. Well, I do not know how I could be protected then if a person went back to her and said was I protected to have received your advice and taken action on a specific thing if there is no record of it. So taking notes is a very important part of the process. These are not small things.
When anybody is going to have a complaint of any kind laid against them, whether it is in their professional capacity or anything, there are certain rules of conduct that apply. Professionals of any kind would be aware of that. Lawyers would be aware of that, that if you are going to be judged by somebody, it would be fair to say that they would enter into that and embark on that process with an open mind and would adhere to certain standards of conduct. One of those basic standards of conduct would not be, as the Member has already mentioned, to discuss that allegation or the details of it with other people, with the media. These are the kinds of things that would seriously make you wonder if you were going to be able to receive a fair hearing and that is all that anybody is entitled to, is fair process.
I have to say that when I read the report, although it maybe was not intended to be an examination of the performance of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, a lot of things just by the by came to light in the conveying of her evidence that I think the committee has picked up on. In fact, I am rather happy. I do not think there is a single concern that was raised by myself or my counsel that was not upheld in the committee's report.
I do not think we can just brush over this lightly and say, "Well, that person was just new at the job." I think that this Legislative Assembly owes it to us as Members to ensure that there are people in those very serious statutory officer positions who are up to a certain level of -- yes, maybe you cannot go to school and get a degree in how to be a Conflict of Interest Commissioner but it is a simplistic approach to say that this does not affect me so therefore I am not interested.
I think that it is the least respect we could show each other to be interested in fairness, if not just for ourselves, for someone else who might be going through this process. We do not know when any of you might have an allegation made against you and you would be very happy to know there is a very high standard of a process in place to deal with that issue. I just had to say that.
The advice that you receive from the Conflict Commissioner is your protection. If you cannot get that advice, if the Commissioner does not record that advice, if there are no notes taken, there is no record of it, you do not have any protection. That unfortunately was the case in quite a number of the conversations and information I had sought from her. I think that the committee is doing a service to this Legislature to ensure that we have the highest standard of competency available to us in the form of a Conflict of Interest Commissioner, a statutory officer of this House. Thank you.