Thank you, Chair.
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for your attendance.
I want to use my opening round with both of you to put a fine point on this issue.
This discussion has to end, and it needs to end today, as to who's responsible for the selection of GC Strategies. Canadians want to know. Canadians are rightly angry that this two-person firm working out of their basement, doing no IT work, has collected almost $20 million in taxpayer funds. I can understand why the Justin Trudeau government wants to shield themselves from any responsibility.
I know the Auditor General was unable to precisely identify which individuals. She made a suggestion, Mr. Utano, that perhaps you should accept responsibility for it. Her words were that you signed the requisition on behalf of the agency, which “amounts to the exercise of delegated authority and carries with it responsibility and accountability”, but prior to that particular statement, did you not meet with the Auditor General's team?