Let's continue, Ms. Ouimet, on another aspect of the problem. One of the emails mentioned earlier came from the Prime Minister's Office and said this:
...if you could advise PCO as to the status of his request.
This is a matter you addressed earlier. The Prime Minister's Office asked you to provide additional information on the issue. The name had been removed, but this is a specific case. I also have questions about another email. It came from Treasury Board. It says this: Ms. Marie-Josée Beauchesne, our director, wishes to revise the document ahead of time to ensure that it is consistent with the content of the workshop.
You were going to make a presentation. Why did Treasury Board want to revise your documents? If you were independent, Ms. Ouimet, why were these two federal offices interfering in your work?
You were an independent officer of Parliament. We agree on that. Everyone knows that. Why, in addition to having specific information, did the Prime Minister want to buy your silence? He acted the same way he did yesterday in the House of Commons. He concluded that he was above Parliament. He bought your silence for half a million dollars. The reason remains unknown. You say that it is because of the Office of the Auditor General, but why do you justify yourself with a letter from the Auditor General? You did not justify yourself to the Auditor General, in Parliament or to the people you are accountable to, but to the Prime Minister's Office.
The links are so obvious! There is no independence, Ms. Ouimet. What is more, the Prime Minister allowed himself to buy you out for a half a million dollars. That is how I see things. You were supposedly doing your job. That is at least what you are saying and what some members of government would appear to be saying. But the Prime Minister ignored the decision of Parliament and the Senate and decided to buy your silence for reasons we would like to know about. Those things have not been clarified.
Why did the Prime Minister want to buy your silence? If, according to your hiring, you were accountable to Parliament and the Senate, why was he the one who paid you half a million dollars? That makes no sense. There must be other reasons, and those are the reasons we want explained. Otherwise, you are directly accountable to Parliament.