National Defence Committee on April 6th, 2021

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Actually, no, Madam Chair, I'll do the first one. It's chronological.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

The first one is just a statement.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

No. You can't just make a statement and leave an assertion out there.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I can. It's my time and I—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm trying to answer your question.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

My question for you, sir—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Minister, please answer questions in the order they were given.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

It wasn't a question first. It was a statement; it was not a question.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I followed the process, that when it came to—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

The question is—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Mr. Bezan, please allow the witness to speak.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Madam Chair—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Madam Chair, as he's talking about investigations, there was an investigation launched in 2015 that I'm aware of and that, as I think the member knows, the current leader of the Conservative Party knew about when he was a minister, and—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Madam Chair, I'm trying to answer the question.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Minister, which—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm sorry, there might be some lag here. I'm trying to answer the question.

The 2015 investigation that the leader of the Conservative Party, who was a minister at that time, provided the information.... The funny thing is, we are following the exact same process, making sure the public officials take a look in the direction that it needs to go.

There was an investigation. The difference here now, Madam Chair, is that no investigation was obviously started. Having said this, if an investigation had started, it might have been a different story, but there was none.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

At the very least, Minister—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

That was the difference between the incident that took place—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Madam Chair, the minister is just bringing up the clock now.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm happy to answer the second question now, if you'd like. As I stated before, once the information was provided to my former of chief, she contacted the Privy Council Office and she made the Prime Minister's Office aware, not only of what had transpired but also the action that she was taking.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

When did she talk to Katie Telford, chief of staff to the Prime Minister?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

She did not talk to Katie Telford, but as I stated for you before, she provided information to the Prime Minister's Office, to Elder, and we wanted to make sure there was no political interference. We had to allow the process to take its course.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

I allowed this to go a little longer.

We're now on to Madam Vandenbeld, please.