Information & Ethics committee  As I understand, they made the suggestion.

Information & Ethics committee  No. I'm going to say that WE Charity, as far as I'm aware, made the suggestion that the WE Charity Foundation would be the better vehicle.

Information & Ethics committee  The same issues.... I don't know at what point the focus shifted from the WE Charity to the WE Charity Foundation. I do not know if it would be the same individuals responding on the other side to both parts of the organization. I can tell you that the officials were focused with their interlocutors at WE on the due diligence, the ability of the organization to deliver the program.

Information & Ethics committee  Chair, I understand completely the question and its legitimacy. I have every confidence that going forward we will learn from this situation whether those questions should have been examined. I'm not in a position to give the detail on the negotiation of the contribution agreement between ESDC officials and the WE organization broadly.

Information & Ethics committee  I've been very clear, a few times now, in answering your question to say that those issues with respect to the WE Charity Foundation were not raised in the subsequent briefing. To my knowledge, they were not flagged as material in the examination of WE's ability to deliver the program.

Information & Ethics committee  In retrospect, I think if we had known what we know now, we probably would have inquired further, but I must also say that even looking back now, I have no evidence that the WE organization, had the program gone ahead, would not today be able to deliver the program as set out in the contribution agreement.

Information & Ethics committee  My understanding is that he did not.

Information & Ethics committee  You're absolutely right about the government's responsibility to reassure Canadians about the reliability of things. I would simply say that there was an established relationship between WE Charity and the department. As I mentioned before, I don't know the specific reasons why the vehicle was transferred between WE Charity and the WE Charity Foundation.

Information & Ethics committee  I was generally aware, because the item had been removed from the cabinet agenda, that there was a desire for due diligence on the part of the Prime Minister's chief of staff and the Prime Minister, and that that would be undertaken between the two cabinet dates. I was not personally involved in that due diligence.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, those who did the follow-up, Chair, which is to say ESDC officials who had carriage of the file, and the Privy Council Office would have been monitoring that as well.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, the nature of our advice was when the item returned, the homework having been done by the officials, and the Prime Minister was again briefed prior to the cabinet meeting—

Information & Ethics committee  In my opinion, it was.

Information & Ethics committee  At that time, we did not know that information.

Information & Ethics committee  Everything is based on the Conflict of Interest Act. As the committee knows, it is the responsibility of individuals to make their business known to the commissioner. If the commissioner deems that action is necessary, it's the responsibility of senior officials or ministers—

Information & Ethics committee  I indicated earlier that the due diligence had to do with the organization's ability to deliver the program. Other issues related to the organization, such as those related to the board of directors, were not considered at that time.