I had had a meeting with the parliamentary secretary earlier to discuss the questions of the whistle-blowing legislation. I had an outstanding invitation from the President of the Treasury Board to go and see him on a get-to-know-you basis. It was at that meeting, which was far in advance of...in early March, that I took with me a copy of the open government act report and said, “Look, this solves all your problems, just put it in the act and you'll satisfy my requirements and everybody else's requirements.” From that point on....
I should say that at the same time, my deputy commissioner, Mr. Leadbeater, met with the Deputy Minister of Justice and gave him the same message: “Here's a copy of the open government act, and we are prepared to meet with you at any time to discuss any of those matters.”
Neither he nor I received a call at all from the government. We received no briefing before the bill was brought down. We received no briefing after the bill was brought down.