Public Accounts committee  Mr. Lake does not seem to understand how the process works. Public Works Canada makes the decisions. What I asked for was a verification. This is the eighth time that I have said this, Mr. Chairman.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I find it curious that I'm being criticized for always repeating the same thing. If I was not always asked the same questions, I would not have to repeat the same answers. I'm not going to change my answers because...

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I will repeat what I said once again. When I was told that we were moving, I said I agreed. There had been a tendering process. That is the process, and we have to respect it. I agreed entirely with the decision. However, my deputy minister talked to me about the

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I told Mr. Sweet that when the deputy minister informed me that we had to move, I told him that was fine, that we would do so. Afterwards, he shared his concerns with me about drawbacks of the move, and that is when I decided to check with Public Works C

Public Accounts committee  First of all, I learned today that the process had started in 2000. I was not aware of that. Secondly, I do not know how the people at Public Works Canada function. If it was specifically for them, because they have a number of buildings... That was probably the case. If you say

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Laforest, I'm going to repeat myself. First of all, I found out about it at that time. I could not have acted earlier: I had just taken up my duties as minister. Secondly, I asked for a review. Remember what I said at the outset. When the deputy minister informed me that ther

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Laforest, what I understood was that he did not want any written comments. That is very different.

Public Accounts committee  No, unfortunately, I have not read it.

Public Accounts committee  No. All I received was the documents from the clerk concerning what Mr. Gladu said in his testimony before the committee.

Public Accounts committee  I want to be sure I understand the question, Ms. Sgro.

Public Accounts committee  I appreciate the question. No. I in no way wanted to interfere with the process. I simply asked whether or not it was possible. In light of what they told me, which is that they could study that because they also had other needs, I never had anything further to do with it. My in

Public Accounts committee  The difference is that Mr. Sweet has stated that he was in favour of it, whereas I had decided that we should not move. What I said was that the deputy minister spoke to me at the time about the drawbacks of the move after he told me that we were moving and I had agreed to the mo

Public Accounts committee  To my knowledge, I am also testifying here, and what I am saying is the truth as far as I know concerning what happened at that time. I had a witness...

Public Accounts committee  That is not what I am saying. Perhaps he left something out. I am telling you what I remember. I cannot speak for Mr. Gladu, but I have a great deal of respect for him. He worked very hard and he had a very good reputation within the public service. We reviewed this together and

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I am going to have to repeat myself and I must apologize to all members in this room.