Public Accounts committee  What I'd be prepared to comment on is the fact that we engage for general procedural understanding of this process. You have to understand that this isn't something we, as a private company, and I, as a private citizen, go through on a regular basis. There was no specific mandate to push back dates; it was truly to understand the process.

Public Accounts committee  The mandate of Fleishman-Hillard--again with multiple people involved--was to get facts out to help us understand the process. There was no mandate at all around delaying dates and recommendations. That was absolutely not part of it.

Public Accounts committee  It was to help us understand the process; to help us understand what it means to have the public accounts committee review something; to help us get facts out in order to make sure that all sides of the story were understood, etc.

Public Accounts committee  I'm afraid I can't comment on the length of time proceedings and motions take. I'm just not capable of answering that question. I'm answering to the best of my ability on what we engaged them to do. How long a committee takes to undertake and make a decision is outside of the scope of my skills and knowledge.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, I didn't get a translation on that.

Public Accounts committee  There was a translation issue.

Public Accounts committee  You're right. We did engage Fleishman at that point in time, and I want to be clear and come back to a point you raised earlier on this. When we engaged the firms.... This matter about the registration just recently came to my attention. It's my understanding that it was an administrative error and they raised the issue with the registrar at the time.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, I don't have that on the tip of my tongue. I can get that for you, though.

Public Accounts committee  You know, honestly I don't know. I took over running this company about a year and a bit ago. That was prior to my time in terms of direct involvement in that, so I'd have to go back and look at files and ask some questions. If you'd allow me, I'd be happy to do that.

Public Accounts committee  I believe—and again, acting in terms of what they told me—it was just a date error. Again, once remedied, it was acknowledged by the registrar that this was a genuine and legitimate mistake and they had it registered, but there were certainly other members of the firm who were acting on our behalf who were registered.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not sure I know the second part of your question.

Public Accounts committee  We don't manage referrals, except in the instance Mr. Goodfellow was just mentioning. Members receive a package that has a list of all the qualified suppliers for the area they're moving into, and they select them. In fact, I'll go further and say that each of the members signs a piece of paper acknowledging that in fact we didn't ask them to go anywhere and direct business anywhere.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct. Well, there will be, by nature. I assume you're referring to the residential part of the Royal LePage business, so there is going to be by nature, because there are certainly elements of them in parts of it, but none that we've handed them. They've earned every file.

Public Accounts committee  Not to my knowledge.

Public Accounts committee  I'll do my best. First of all, it's important to note that Royal LePage doesn't receive the funds for property management. The funds flow through third-party contractors. It comes back, very simply, to the total cost to the crown, which is the way we were instructed to bid. According to the policy, which is a supporting document to the RFP, property management services will be funded through this real estate incentive.