Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all my colleagues around the committee table.
As a new member of Parliament, I found the reports you submitted very helpful, and I thank you for all of the work you do. I certainly don't want you to feel like you're refereeing a political tennis match here, so I'm going to ask just one question. It's on your report about the professional services contracts.
I don't think anyone's denying that there are serious problems with what happened here, and you have identified that there were certain procurement rules that were not followed.
We all know that nothing happens in a vacuum. Would you be able to provide comment on contextual factors, either internally or externally, on what was going on in the world at the time that may have created a fog within the department and that may have contributed to the relegation of rule-following?