Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you to the minister for being here today.
Mr. Minister, there seems to be an obvious contradiction in what you're saying today. In your opening statement, you say that you were “as shocked as everyone else” to hear these allegations, yet you imply that you knew about the allegations. These can't both be true at the same time.
Let me ask you this very specifically. There are many ways you could have learned about these allegations. They might have come from the previous government, which knew about allegations of sexual conduct against General Vance and had them investigated before he was appointed. They could have come from the ombudsman. They could have come from many sources. I'm not asking you to give me the source of your knowledge. I'm asking for you to confirm to me whether you knew or did not know about these allegations before they became public.