Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to turn to the Privy Council Office, but before I do, I want to come back to the question of approval versus information, which Mr. Siksay and Ms. Foote were on. On page 11 of your report, where you're taking stock of systemic issues, you mention the concerns over “political interference and delays that may stem from inappropriate or ill-enforced delegation orders”. You go on to talk about how the amount of time it takes for “senior management and ministerial review and approval” generates delays as well.
When Mr. Giorno was here before the committee, he stated that, “No political staff member has received a delegation of authority under the act...”. He said further, “Political staff members do not have authority to be making those decisions, to be interpreting and applying the act”. But increasingly.... One of the reasons we have a motion before this committee to call certain staff, such as Mr. Sparrow and the chief of staff for the Prime Minister, Mr. Giorno, is that increasingly we believe that approval is actually taking place, versus just providing information.
Can you clarify? I know that you turned to Josée at one point. I'm still confused on what is happening within the system. There are two agencies, I believe, and one department that are using an approval process, while others are doing it appropriately. Can you expand on that a little?