Evidence of meeting #20 for Public Accounts in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was space.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
I can't answer that question technically because I wasn't minister at the time.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Fair enough.
You mentioned earlier in your statement that you asked a number of questions. I didn't hear you say one question, and you can correct me or clarify. Did you ask as one of your questions, are we getting the best value possible?
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
A question to that effect would have been asked by me, yes. Typically it was in all of these ministerial conversations.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
I'll take that as a yes.
I know that, at least to my knowledge, you were never the minister responsible for Canada Lands or responsible for that.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Oh, you were. Okay.
Under that, if a building was sold, under your authority or minister's responsibility, would it be fair to say that you would probably know who bought that building?
Liberal
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
If you were the minister responsible for Canada Lands and a building or a piece of property was sold, would it be a fair assessment to think that, yes, you would probably know—
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
I would be informed of the name of the party. That's not to say I know them. I would know their identity.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
I wasn't implying that you knew them, just knew of them.
Just for your knowledge then, the committee heard today from Mr. Gagliano that when he was the minister responsible for Canada Lands, I presume before your time, a building was sold, but he didn't know who bought it. I didn't think that sounded very logical at the time, and you've just clarified that.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
What I could just say to you is that if you look at the memo that came up from Mrs. Cochrane recommending the result on this transaction, there was a paragraph in the memo that simply identified who the landlord was. It gave no further information than just the name.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Thank you.
Lastly, you've been a member of Parliament for quite a while. I believe you're a lawyer, and with that I have to presume, and I think the average person would, that you're fairly knowledgeable, or should be, and should be able to make a good logical decision.
I'll just create a scenario here for you. You and your wife get married and you rent a house, and after a while two or three little ones come along, and all of a sudden the place isn't big enough. So you contact a real estate agent and say, “I want you to get me two or three quotes on a place, a bigger house that will accommodate me and my family.” So the person does that, and he finds a place that not only is big enough to hold you and your family, but it's much cheaper than the one you're in. All of a sudden the person who owns the house you're in comes back, gets wind of this, and says, “Whoa, whoa, I know this one isn't big enough, but what if we bumped you in some rooms there and lowered the rent?” Do you think that would be something you would probably agree to in your personal life?
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
In the case of a growing family, it's difficult to retract the size. In the case of a government department, the minister, and ultimately the deputy minister, came to the conclusion that it was possible to function successfully in the smaller space, especially since the regional Montreal office had been relocated.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Mr. Chair, I would like to ask for consent to do another round of eight minutes. There are a lot of unanswered questions at this point. I have a whole list of them here. There are several members who haven't had a chance to pose questions. I don't know what the other side, the Liberal delegates, would have to fear by allowing such a round.
Can we do that, Mr. Chair?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shawn Murphy
No, I think the time is up at one o'clock.
Mr. Goodale has indicated that he has another appointment at one o'clock, and I have another one at one o'clock. And several members have already left. So I'm going to adjourn now.
You can bring a motion to bring him back, Mr. Poilievre. That's possible.
Mr. Goodale, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank you very much for your appearance here today.
The meeting is adjourned.