Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. I would like to acknowledge before I begin that I am on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin people. Thank you to the committee for having me. The Government of Canada has made it a top priority to ensure that all first nation communities have access to safe, clean and reliable drinking water.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I'm not aware of that meeting, and I did not participate in it.

Information & Ethics committee  I have not reviewed their proposal in detail. I received an initial version of it and read the document, but I did not go into the details. What I can share is the advice I gave the Prime Minister. I know that it was a matter of figuring out whether the department should have done the work or whether that organization was best suited to do it.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I did not say that it had shortcomings. I said that we needed a national program with youth engagement and digital platforms. That is what I advised the Prime Minister. He also received advice from other senior officials. That said, my advice was really based on my experience related to the Canada Service Corps program.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I did not participate in that meeting.

Information & Ethics committee  Are you asking whether I knew the Kielburgers participated in a meeting with the Privy Council this year?

Information & Ethics committee  Nobody made that recommendation to me. I think ESDC was responsible for the program, and they would have made the recommendation to their minister. I was not involved in that.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I can go first. During our career, it is always important to take a bit of a step back, to look at best practices and to continue to learn. As public servants, we all have the responsibility to learn and to improve our work. Certain moments are conducive to that, and the pandemic is an excellent moment for it.

Information & Ethics committee  I would know better.

Information & Ethics committee  No, it's not out of the ordinary.

Information & Ethics committee  No, it's not odd. I've worked with them in the past. I had extensive knowledge of the Canada Service Corps. As a public servant, I try to be helpful. If that means connecting people with the right people in government, then that's something I try to do.

Information & Ethics committee  I was appointed deputy minister of youth in 2017, both for youth and intergovernmental affairs. From 2017 to 2019, I had both portfolios. Following the election of 2019, I only kept the intergovernmental affairs portfolio.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, a number of them.

Information & Ethics committee  No. In fact, I think it is helpful to engage directly. As deputy minister of youth, not only did I engage with youth-serving organizations, but I engaged directly with youth to try to really inform the work that we did in government. That meant working with several organizations.

Information & Ethics committee  In the end, I did not—