I would have to say that there's a lot of reading between the lines in my mandate. For example, I draw reference to my meeting with Machinery of Government in the Privy Council Office, and the message was quite clear that I was accountable to the deputy minister. This was always intended, despite the fact that in my mandate, in the order in council, it is clearly specified that I am accountable to the minister, to whom I'm supposed to report.
So I have a workable mandate. But at present there is latitude for individual interpretations. For example, I have no authority to resolve the difference of opinion that our office has with the department regarding the definition of “to review”. We need a definition we can enforce. It's not effective to have someone suggest to me one on one, behind closed doors, that the intent of the government was actually to withhold certain information from me so as not to constrain my ability to make public announcements. To me, that's the department trying to control my messaging. Thank you very much, but I will take my message to the Canadian people and to the veterans I serve based on what I see on the ground and the evidence that backs that up.