Public Accounts committee  I wasn't there to start with, sir. And second, if I had legal advice telling me that you cannot charge it, what I would do, and that's what I told the Auditor General, is bring this kind of issue to the attention of the Auditor General so we could have a full debate at that time and not a year later.

Public Accounts committee  No. I looked at the correspondence that was in the Comptroller General's file. There was a memo in the file that said the Comptroller General, or the acting Comptroller General, was not going to challenge the legal opinion. That memo has been shared with the Auditor General.

Public Accounts committee  If I may answer the question on the legal opinion, there have been discussions with the secretary and the Deputy Minister of Justice, and the opinions will be made available--both opinions, as a matter of fact. One is called the Pigeon legal opinion and the other one is the Besner legal opinion.

Public Accounts committee  I think this is a matter that must be properly discussed among all the parties. When my predecessor left his position, there was also some question as to whether or not the legal opinion would be accepted. At that point, the question within the Office of the Comptroller General was whether the legal opinion should be accepted or rejected.

Public Accounts committee  It was in February and March 2004.

Public Accounts committee  As I told you earlier, I wasn't at the Treasury Board at that time. I got there on June 1. I saw the document that talked about accounting solutions. As a professional accountant and former auditor, it goes without saying that this kind of question startled me. I discussed it with the document's authors, and I was told that a number of different opinions had been issued by lawyers and accountants on this matter.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, indeed.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Member, it would be looking two years after the fact.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for your question. As my predecessor mentioned, he expressed his objection to the proposed accounting treatment within the Treasury Board Secretariat. The documentation he refers to is kept by the Secretary of the Treasury Board and was made available to the Auditor General in the context of her audit.

Public Accounts committee  No, it wasn't the Department of Justice. At the time, it was the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. The Department of Justice prepares all the court opinions of the Canadian government. So it provided a legal opinion analyzing the circumstances of that transaction, with a conclusion based on the various elements of the transaction.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee. This is a very serious matter. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the findings of the Auditor General in her May 2006 report relating to the Canada Firearms Centre with the standing committee.

Government Operations committee  At the time this advice was sought from the Department of Justice, the legal opinion came back advising that the amount was not to be charged--

Government Operations committee  In your question you asked about the comptroller general who recommended--

Government Operations committee  There is no comptroller general who recommended this treatment. We've got to be very clear. The advice was received from the Department of Justice as to how this transaction should be recorded. At the time, my predecessor, maybe the deputy, maybe the Auditor General....

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Member, for those two questions. The action plan that has been referred to by the member, Madame St-Hilaire, is part of the response to the audit report—pages 22, 23, and the fifth one is also being put in place. So those are some of the actions taking place.