Mr. MacPhie was brought in on an untendered contract. He is a known Conservative, who has a great history with you. He was brought in because no one else could fill that position, or at least because he was ideally suited to it. Somehow, though, your people felt that this gave them the right to an exemption, even though it turned out not to be true.
I asked Mr. MacPhie what value he added, given that there are many professional staff within the ministry who work just as many hours and work just as hard and give up as many weekends as any political staff in the development of a budget. You can check the blues, Minister, but I didn't hear anything from Mr. MacPhie that justified why your chief of staff would think it was okay to reach beyond the rules and bring in someone like Mr. MacPhie.
I don't see the value added. I'm not sure what we got for breaking the rules and paying that much money. What value added did the Canadian people get?