Mr. Walsh, so far, you have explained to us very clearly what the principle of accountability entails for the executive in terms of the actions of officials. The ministers are accountable for the officials' actions, but not necessarily for those of their political staff as such. I see that the government's position is to say that they are clearly responsible for the actions of their political staff.
I just wanted to make a comment by saying that there is a double standard, or two completely different interpretations. We remember the case of Minister Lisa Raitt, when her political staffer forgot documents at a television or radio station. It was not the minister's responsibility, but her employee's, and the employee was immediately let go.
In Minister Paradis' case, he did not know what was going on at all, but he changed his story later. We have a hard time following what the government is trying to feed us; they are contradicting themselves.
That was the comment I wanted to make in response to the arguments of my government colleagues.