Mr. Chair, I want to remind everyone of the following point. I am here today on behalf of my employee Sébastien Togneri. I appreciate the steps that have been taken to let me speak freely and the conversation we had before this committee meeting. I appreciate all that. But I wanted to remind everyone of a principle that is clearly set out by O'Brien and Bosc on pages 32 and 33 of their book:
Responsible government has long been considered an essential element of government based on the Westminster model. Despite its wide acceptance as being a cornerstone of the Canadian system of government, there are different meanings attached to the term “responsible government”. In a general sense, responsible government means that the government must be responsive to its citizens, that it must operate responsibly... and that its ministers must be accountable or responsible to Parliament. In terms of ministerial responsibility, ministers have both individual and collective responsibilities to Parliament...The principle of individual ministerial responsibility holds that ministers are accountable not only for their own actions as department heads, but also for the actions of their subordinates.