Mr. Chair, as the honourable member has advised, the role of the PCO is, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, to provide recommendations to the responsible minister. In this case, as the honourable member has mentioned, it would have been Minister Bains at the time. After a full assessment process, he would have been provided by the PCO, as I described in our opening remarks, with suitable candidates who would have been eligible for the position.
I will admit that once we hand that over to our colleagues in the Prime Minister's Office—or to the minister, I should say—we don't have a line of sight into what kinds of conversations happen or what kinds of further engagement ministers may or may not have with candidates.