Health committee  Things were discussed. It was hard sometimes to discuss things, because there was sometimes an atmosphere of intimidation when you brought up things that weren't generally accepted. Sometimes you were a lone voice, or sometimes you had a little bit of support. It was a difficult atmosphere in which to go against the president.

Health committee  To add to that, I know that the report we saw from it was pretty useless.

Health committee  The other issues are the issues that we are talking about today in our brief. Because of confidentiality, we did not talk publicly, ever, about anything other than what was--speaking for myself here--in my resignation letter, which I was told by a lawyer did not breach my confidentiality agreement, as it was just the details of things.

Health committee  In terms of the budget and the financial, I don't believe I had enough information--and I'm not an accountant--to ever be able to say whether the agency was getting value for money. Any kind of audit that would be done on statements would need to be, in my opinion, a full financial audit in terms of looking and seeing whether there was value for money.

Health committee  Thank you. On the one hand, the board was repeatedly reminded by the president that regulatory development was the purview of Health Canada. On the other hand, board members were told that they were in a unique position to have an impact on regulatory development because they had privileged access to information in the formative stages.

Health committee  Thank you for the invitation to appear before your committee today. I feel it necessary to give you a little of my background so that you will know that I did not resign for what may be characterized as petty personal reasons. All of the board members of AHRC brought with them particular skills and expertise.