Mr. Chairman, that was a very brief question.
Now, your deputy minister, who, by the way, works with the staff all the time.... I find it actually a little interesting that, as a minister of the crown, the political minister, you would think that you knew more about your staff than your deputy did. He said, and I'm reading from the blues here:
As administrator and Deputy Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada, I was quite comfortable with the idea of moving to Place Bonaventure.... However, at the time, we believed that Place Bonaventure could fully meet our requirements, because we were beginning to need more space.
Those were his words.
After being made aware of Mr. Drouin's letter, I met him at a regular meeting. I told him that, in my opinion, it was a mistake to have sent that letter, because this was an administrative matter and he simply should not have got involved.
The evidence is very clear, Mr. Drouin, that the principles of good management, of transparency and accountability and ethical behaviour, were breached here in every way, shape, and form from the get-go of this, once you had started the way in on this lease, when everyone else had determined that the move was the best action that should be taken for the department.