Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As I indicated, when I became Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a formal process had already begun. That process was based on three specific allegations. As we have noted, the second of those three allegations was beyond the purview of the investigation and the process, following actions taken by this committee and the House of Commons as confirmed by the Federal Court.
Maybe I could refer to the decision of the Honourable Madam Justice Tremblay-Lamer, dated May 29, 2007, wherein the justice says, in the closing comments of the judgment:
... the RCMP is free to investigate allegations that the Applicant breached the RCMP’s Code of Conduct in the discharge of her duties, but may not investigate the specific allegation that the Applicant provided false testimony to the House. Parliamentary privilege protects what is said in the House and, if the House believes it was misled, it is for the House alone to investigate and punish this offence.
I therefore did not think it was necessary or appropriate to wait for the committee's report with respect to an allegation we were no longer advancing and were no longer investigating.
With respect to the other two allegations, the decision by the appropriate officer, Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney, was that there were not sufficient grounds to proceed to an adjudication. I therefore had no reasonable basis not to reinstate the deputy commissioner.
As I have said on other occasions, I'm the Commissioner of the RCMP. I and the RCMP believe in due process. Due process was followed in this case. As soon as I was notified that the appropriate officer intended to withdraw the allegations, I instituted the process to reinstate Deputy Commissioner George. I believe it was the only reasonable and honourable thing for me to do.