Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much.

Information & Ethics committee  No, no—

Information & Ethics committee  I've never had difficulty in my career expressing my advice to anybody, including the minister for whom I worked, when I thought what he was about to do was not a good idea, either for legal reasons or for ethical reasons or for policy reasons of any sort. That is part of the fun

Information & Ethics committee  I'm very reluctant to outline any specific ideas at this stage, because I don't feel adequately briefed. I don't feel that I've studied it sufficiently to make any particular proposals. I also would want to develop any proposals I would have by consulting with a variety of differ

Information & Ethics committee  I would like to answer the question in English, if you don't mind. It would be easier for me. I'm not 100% sure I have all the thrust of your question, but I have never had difficulty in following the instructions of my ministers or the government in trying to achieve what it wa

Information & Ethics committee  No, I've never been involved in that particular aspect.

Information & Ethics committee  In the Department of Justice, for example?

Information & Ethics committee  Well, there are different roles. There are many different inputs to the political desires. There's the policy advice, the legal advice. I've worked in a number of different roles, as you noted. In drafting legislation, one starts, of course, with a memorandum to cabinet and a re

Information & Ethics committee  Legislated rules, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  You know what? I went over quite a bit of material and I'm not very good on the specific details at this point. The main part of the legislation is the enforcement of conflict of interest issues themselves, such as gifts or financial holdings and that sort of thing. The sense I

Information & Ethics committee  I'm going to have to think carefully about how to fulfill that particular role. This is new for me, and I'm going to have to very carefully read the statutory underpinnings and the parliamentary code, which I've done, but it's going to require more reading, thinking, and getting

Information & Ethics committee  I think the one that worries me the most, or is the most important right up front, is to get it properly staffed. There are a lot of holes in the organization, I'm told, and it's important to get the right people on staff and get it up and moving. I think it will take some months

Information & Ethics committee  Not really, no. I've really had no briefings on this material.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure if I'm asking for more at this point. I haven't even gotten into it that deeply. But I do recognize that there's more of a legal overlay now. There are some legal proceedings, and it would be important to have adequate legal advice. I'm going to have to assess....

Information & Ethics committee  All I can say is that this is a major political issue. I never felt that I was against Quebec. I love Quebec a lot and I hope that it will remain a part of Canada. That is my personal opinion. I was working for the government at the time and it was not up to me to decide what to