I think this goes to the heart of the entire report. It's not only in paragraph 33. Back in paragraph 30, we see in line 5: “She also made it clear, as did Ms. Biggs, that it is the Minister's decision in respect of funding that becomes the decision of the agency and that of the government”.
There is no agency that can sign off on these dollar figures without the approval of a minister. So I think we're trying to split hairs. Repeatedly, the minister was clear in her witness that while it may have appeared that people thought she said one thing, what she actually said was that CIDA did not approve it, and CIDA includes the minister.