Foreign Affairs committee  I sent you a letter on January 14 last. In it, I indicated my interest in being heard by the board. At that time, a debate arose because of two letters, the letter from your chair and the letter that I sent. My position was always to decline. That was debated at the special meeti

Foreign Affairs committee  We have a legal opinion from our lawyer, which I asked for myself. The lawyer says that we have a good case for those dismissals. My opinion is that for that reason and for that reason only, Mr. Rae, the SIRCO report was important.

Foreign Affairs committee  What I said is that I asked for a legal opinion from our lawyer, based not only on what SIRCO told me but based on the collective agreement, based of all the facts that are in my due diligence. The conclusion of and the legal opinion of our lawyers is that the collective agreemen

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't.

Foreign Affairs committee  Look, Mr. Rae, I wasn't there.

Foreign Affairs committee  Look, I am not....

Foreign Affairs committee  Look, I am not responsible for the appointment—

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I'm answering your question.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not my role to give any—

Foreign Affairs committee  I was asked and I said that this is not my role. I am not the one; it is the cabinet. I am responsible to and accountable to the board; they are my boss. I have to work with them; I don't select them. That's not my role. That's a clear answer.

Foreign Affairs committee  I arrived an hour before the committee meeting. I was prepared to testify and, suddenly, the meeting was cancelled. I tried to find out why, and I was never given a clear answer.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Rae, if you read the report, there is no accusation against Mr. Akhavan.

Foreign Affairs committee  If you read the document effectively, what I'm saying is that Mr. Akhavan was at the same time on the board of Rights and Democracy and the board of another organization. There is no conclusion that he was in a situation of—

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Rae, I disagree. There is no—

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Rae, this is why I did my due diligence. I don't have to discuss that with other—