Thank you, Madam Chair.
My committee colleagues have asked several questions. One thing appears to stand out, and I don't know if that happens at other committees. I am referring to the Privy Council Office's lack of credibility in this affair, in terms of the way it is managing it. I don't understand. I have worked in international affairs. Given all of the recommendations on management and the sensitivity of information managed by the embassy in the U.S., I believe that rigorous procedures are used to select staff. I find it shameful that we are being led to believe that the embassy was placed in a position of weakness.
When we read the report, we can't see how any conclusions can be drawn. There are so many "maybes". The text is written in the conditional tense. There are whole areas information that were not subject to the investigation. We cannot call this document an investigation. We can consider it a preliminary analysis of what occurred. It says here that you verified the distribution of the report, that you learned that reports may have found their way into the hands of many other people and that you needed more resources and time.
Did you ask for additional time to complete this report?