That's false. You should also question Mr. Côté if you haven't already done so. You're asking whether I should have known that he had eaten with Mr. Sauvé. Under the parameters of the rules I had set in my office, it was clear that, as minister of Public Works and Government Services, I was not at all involved in the awarding of contracts or in offering advice on that matter. Mr. Côté operated within the limits of those parameters for the two years when he worked with me. If he ate with Mr. Sauvé, I don't know what they talked about.
On November 16th, 2010. See this statement in context.