Mr. Speaker, this is ludicrous. The fact is that when this issue first arose it was quite clear, as I stated in the House, that I asked my department to look into it right away. They began to do so. A very short time thereafter, I asked the ethics counsellor if he would undertake a full and thorough examination of the whole thing. For a period of time they operated on a parallel track until such time as the department turned the whole thing over to the ethics counsellor. That is exactly what happened.
In the House of Commons on April 6th, 2000. See this statement in context.