Thank you very much. I certainly appreciate being here today and all the good work that you've done over the years. I appreciate your taking the time to come to see us today.
I noted that you requested to appear before committee as you tabled your report. I just want to read the title of the report: “Merit and non-partisanship under the Public Service Employment Act (2003)”. This is a special report to Parliament.
Obviously you saw a few things that gave you pause for thought and gave you cause for concern, especially around non-partisanship, the political staff, and the public servants. We know, for example, that in one case last week we had the RCMP called in on an issue of interference under the Access to Information Act, and I'm going to get to that.
Have you seen, and can you give us examples of, how political staff might have interfered with public servants? Since you're looking at non-partisanship under the act and you're doing a special report, you were obviously concerned. Could you elaborate on why you were concerned and why this caused you to do this report?