Actually, I did some more detailed research in order to obtain information for our colleagues. I did not think that this matter would take all our time.
When the people came to testify here, there were discrepancies between what was said at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates and what was said at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. The intention was not to follow the Auditor General's guidelines. We had the opportunity to obtain information about a public consultation on information technology management contracts.
I thought that the audio cassettes would be useful in understanding the presentation and in following the explanations about the presentation that the officials provided.
When Public Works and Government Services Canada first informed us that there had been no simultaneous interpretation at the public session, I saw no problem with us making an exception and receiving a version just in French or English. They came back to us with the excuse that a transcription had not been made because of the cost. Up until that time, providing us with the information was no problem. Now, suddenly, the audio cassettes have become documents that are no longer appropriate for the committee to have. Last Thursday, they held a huge press conference trumpeting the merits of consultation.
I just wanted to get the documents so that we could check whether the efforts to consult the industry correspond with what we have been told here, given all the contradictions we have observed.
For my little research project, I consulted someone from the industry, from an information technology firm, who had attended. I asked him about the documents that he had been given during the consultation. At the meeting with the executive directors' committee, there was a framework proposal for consultation. They were told that, based on the principles that guided the consultation, the desire was for a transparent process where everyone's contributions would be used for the benefit of everyone in the industry: “input will be shared“.
Public Works' next response was—and this is why I found your contribution to the committee just now to be interesting—that industry presentations to the committee of director generals would be open to all industry participants. So they agreed that all briefs presented during the consultation and all industry presentations would be shared with all industry participants. They wanted it to be a public meeting so that the views expressed to the government by members of the industry could be made known to all.
So there is nothing that tells me that this information should be hard to get. To my mind, it was just information. No one who participated can say that he expected his comments to be kept confidential.
So, in the light of what we have heard today, I do not feel that getting the audio cassettes should be a problem.