That is possible, but what is never negotiable is where a conflict of interest exists. Where someone may be in a decision-making position with respect to a contract, they should declare their conflict very clearly up front. Obviously, with Mr. Yeo, we had a circumstance where that was not followed and that was not done.
Therefore, we put some additional processes in place. For example, we're putting six questions to every new hire about any potential conflict, not only for themselves, but for family members or any element of their occupation. If the answer is yes to any of those, that then triggers a next round of steps.
It is the responsibility of the employee to declare a conflict, but we're making sure they have all the information they require in the department to make good decisions with respect to managing the risk of any conflict. Some of those conflicts can be mitigated; some of them have to be screened, and some of them would require a complete prohibition of the person from having any engagement in these matters.
We need to get that information from them, and we are prepared to take the steps. I think it's really important that we be able to demonstrate that we are acting quickly to respond to the concerns the Auditor General has raised with us.
As well, I think there's some very important work taking place at Treasury Board. Our department is part of that, but we're not the sole part of it. The government, through the Treasury Board, is also enacting a number of really important measures to ensure the integrity and transparency of all of our procurement processes.