Government Operations committee  Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. I thank you for your invitation to be here. It's an invitation that is difficult to refuse. It is gratifying to me to know that members of Parliament are interested in the report and recommendations that were made about two yea

Government Operations committee  That's the first time any person representing the government has thanked me, so I'm very grateful for that.

Government Operations committee  I met the Prime Minister on one occasion. It was the day my report was filed, I think February 1, 2006, when I appeared at the press centre. I had agreed to a press conference. I met the Prime Minister by accident—except I don't think it was an accident—on the sidewalk outside. A

Government Operations committee  As I indicated in my first introductory remarks, I had a call from someone in the office of the President of the Treasury Board, who was Mr. John Baird at the time. He had newly been.... Everybody was sort of new at that time. I responded by going up to Ottawa. I had a very cordi

Government Operations committee  I'll be frank with you, I was just astonished that I didn't get so much as a letter. There was nothing. There hasn't been, and two years have gone by.

Government Operations committee  Well, one of the things that I recall from that meeting was that Mr. Baird asked me what was the most important recommendation I was making. He said, “Out of the 18, which do you think is the most important?” That sort of set me back. I responded by saying that I thought they we

Government Operations committee  Good morning, Madam.

Government Operations committee  One of my recommendations was that certain rules be established with regard to the behaviour of political staff. According to the information I have, there exists no such thing at the present time. There is no code of conduct, no training offered to these people. As a rule, these

Government Operations committee  I would have at least liked to have seen some attempt at establishing rules of conduct, for the simple purpose of checking this trend.

Government Operations committee  I made another recommendation, which went unheeded. It was one of the first. I suggested that some type of code of conduct be established for members of the public service, so as to allow them to determine their rights and at what point they should be able to tell these people to

Government Operations committee  I will leave it up to the Canadian people to answer that question.

Government Operations committee  I understood you full well and have chosen not to answer.

Government Operations committee  Good morning, sir.

Government Operations committee  Allow me to interrupt you, because I've been waiting for a chance to jump in. Since you mentioned that issue, and you talked about a long evolution, permit me to point out that the recommendation I made about the accountability of deputy ministers echoed almost word for word a

Government Operations committee  I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.