Yes, Mr. Chair, I wish to respond to Mr. Perkins.
When he brought up the subject of alcohol, it's very clear from the Order Paper, in answer to Mr. Barrett, that “Catering costs include the cost of food, non-alcoholic beverages, and associated fees, including catering handling and delivery, storage, cleaning and disposal of international waste, airport taxes, administrative fees, security charges, and local taxes. There is no alcohol that was included in those costs.
The second thing is that I want to draw the committee's attention again to the statement from Rideau Hall where it says, “The Governor General shares the public's concern in regards to expenses” points out the fact that it's DND that is responsible and not her office.
Again, I fail to see the benefit of calling the Governor General or her office when it's clear that there's another group responsible. Indeed, again, if this committee hears from DND and the RCAF, and they say to us, “No, the Governor General was involved” or “The Governor General's office had a hand in deciding on the meals and knew the costs,” or whatever else, the committee can then call the Governor General's office.
At this point, I don't think we have a basis to do that, because they've said they had nothing to do with it. I just don't think it's fair to call on people who have said they had nothing to do with the decision when we can call on the people who did.
Those are my points, Mr. Chair.