Public Accounts committee  As I said in my opening remarks, when Pierre Elliott Trudeau died, there were a couple of people who wanted to do certain things in commemoration. All I did was make sure there was a structured and disciplined process to assess alternatives and come up with what the government wa

Public Accounts committee  What I think sold the argument about creating scholarships.... I'm going to put your question about the foundation aside for just a second. The idea of doing it as scholarships seemed to be a very apt commemoration of Pierre Elliott Trudeau the person, of his previous law profe

Public Accounts committee  I've been very impressed with the quality of the people. The people who were rejected from being admitted were very good. The people who got in were even better.

Public Accounts committee  I have no idea.

Public Accounts committee  It was very much so. When I was clerk, then prime minister Chrétien would take an almost annual trip to China with premiers and business leaders. All of this was in aid of trying to promote investment in China, and Chinese investment in Canada, and trade.

Public Accounts committee  It's not in question for me, sir.

Public Accounts committee  I agree.

Public Accounts committee  I know of him. I've never met him.

Public Accounts committee  I have no idea.

Public Accounts committee  I did not see anything like that, no.

Public Accounts committee  I really don't have a view on that. I assume that the foundation has independent auditors. Anything incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act would have to have independent auditors, I assume.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I am very hesitant to go there. I am here to talk about the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, and you're asking me about your job, whether to have a public inquiry. Let me make two points. The first is that I think the substantive issue of foreign influence is very

Public Accounts committee  Well, part I of the Inquiries Act creates inquiries, but doesn't say what they're to look at. Is it to be forward-looking or backward-looking? Is it going to be what happened and what did the government do, or is it how could we avoid this from ever happening again? I think that

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I would agree. My problem is what “public” means. With the greatest respect, Mr. Chair and Mr. Desjarlais, I suspect we mean different things by “public”. My notion of a public inquiry is not one that's going to disclose all the secrets to the public. We have two quite suc

Public Accounts committee  It was to help the cabinet make a decision.