Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Looking at the relationship between you, Mr. Firth, and Mr. MacDonald, I think it's pretty clear from your testimony what's in it for you, which is that you've established yourself as the government's go-to guy. You have the ability to run these contracts through your company. Mr. MacDonald, therefore, funnels a bunch of work to you, and you're able to charge these commissions. That's been well established.
What I've had a harder time understanding is what's in it for Mr. MacDonald. I'm going to go back to some Globe and Mail reporting from January 16. This involves communications between you and the two Botler principals. You urged them “to single out Mr. MacDonald for praise when meeting with other senior government officials”.
The quote here from you, Mr. Firth, is, “I just want to make sure that he gets taken care of, right?” This was told to Ms. Dutt and Mr. Morv.
I'm just wondering if you can clarify what his being “taken care of” would entail, and why it was so important that Mr. MacDonald got taken care of, in your view.