Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

The witness is actually—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Have a little respect for your colleagues in the House.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'll publish your personal address.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Go ahead. I'm in the phone book.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Drouin, you are up next.

The witnesses are being quite forthcoming. Ms. McClymont is answering questions—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

[Inaudible—Editor] phone books.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

They do in Nova Scotia. It shows you how much you know about this country.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Gentlemen.

Mr. Perkins, you're not helping either. The floor will be yours in a second. I'm going to turn it back over. You have a little bit of time left, and then I'll go to Mr. Drouin.

The witness is not being maltreated here. She is responding to the best of her ability, in my opinion, and is being forthcoming. I recognize that Mr. Perkins is probing, which is his right to do.

Mr. Perkins, I don't know if you want me to go right to the witness, because we only have about 20 seconds left, or if you want a little bit of time. Okay, you have time to finish your question, and then we'll hear from the witness.

Thank you.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Will you table with this committee who is the person in PCO and PMO who sent out the order to redact the documents based on these two acts? Could you table that name with this committee, please, at some point?

[Donnalyn McClymont]

Unfortunately, I don't have that in front of me. I wasn't prepared to speak to that today.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

You can table it in the future.

[Donnalyn McClymont]

We will go back, check with our colleagues and do our best to get it to the committee as quickly as possible.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you.

It wasn't so tough, Francis.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Look, we have professional civil servants here who are able to answer our questions. I think if we pose the questions in a manner that is respectful, even if they're tough, we should allow them to answer.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor now for six minutes, please.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you Mr. Chair.

I certainly agree that we have professional public servants here. My issue is that they were brought here for a reason, and then we suddenly go on a wild goose chase, which Mr. Perkins knows very well because he was appointed on February 21, 2008, as a GIC to the Business Development Bank of Canada.

I would ask the PCO, is it normal to release the personal information of individuals who have been appointed to various boards of the government when they are labelled as GICs?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Does it take 107 pages to put her address in?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Pardon me.

Mr. Perkins, until the end of your time, the room was quiet for you. I would ask you to extend the same courtesy—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Perkins doesn't like the truth.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Drouin, please, you're—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

It's my time, isn't it?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I've paused the clock.

There's no point in you two winding each other up, because it won't end well for the interpreters, as well as our time here.

Mr. Drouin, you have five minutes and 30 seconds left.

I'm starting the clock again.

[Donnalyn McClymont]

Mr. Chair, as I mentioned in my opening comments, absolutely, I think we do everything we can, as stewards in the public service, to protect the information that's provided to us, particularly in our line of business.

As I mentioned at the outset, we respect the Privacy Act. I think when somebody applies for a GIC position, they would absolutely expect that would be respected. Also, it's an HR management practice that if people are going to apply for positions, they expect that their information will be held in the strictest confidence.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

If I was to table a motion today asking for Mr. Perkins' personal information, because he was appointed by the Conservative government back in 2008—we know his history; we know he worked for Brian Mulroney, a Conservative Prime Minister—obviously, the PCO would still redact his personal information.

I don't want to put you in a partisan position. That would be the normal practice for anybody who's been appointed to a Governor in Council position. Is that correct?

[Donnalyn McClymont]

Mr. Chair, the member is correct. For whoever applies, their personal information would be protected under the Privacy Act.

Yes, that's correct.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm listening to my honourable colleagues on the other side. Again, I respect the process we're in here today. These people were before committee not too long ago. Why are they here again today? I'm still trying to figure out what the opposition is trying to get out of these witnesses, knowing full well that the appointment that was made had the same objective as Mr. Perkins' did. They both donated to a Conservative potential leader contestant.

The idea that this is a green slush fund with a bunch of Liberals is idiotic.

It's silly. It's stupid. Mr. Perkins doesn't even want to listen to the answers anymore. He left the table. He isn't even here anymore. The truth is, he has been—