Public Accounts committee  I will start with the final observation. I was somewhat confused, I must admit, because there were a lot of aspects. I will, however, do my best to answer the questions. First of all, I did not have access to those emails. I think that unfortunately, you are perhaps quoting them out of context.

Public Accounts committee  I would ask for your indulgence. Mr. Shipley, I made some notes. I apologize, sir. I just want to make sure that I understood correctly your question.

Public Accounts committee  It had to do with ministers, severance, and....

Public Accounts committee  First of all, the two issues are completely different.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, Parliament should be concerned if a breach of security and confidentiality occurs. In fact, the mechanism in question is confidential under the act. The Office of the Auditor General should be concerned about how well it is working, since confidentiality is at the heart of the act and breaches of security may occur.

Public Accounts committee  Because the staff was well placed and neutral. I am talking about a security matter.

Public Accounts committee  It is because, number one, the vast majority of the cases that we received did not fall within our mandate, or there was another process. This was simply because we weren't known. Of course, with the recent publicity, I can assure you that probably Canadians now do know about the integrity office, and I'm just sad that they don't get the right story.

Public Accounts committee  I don't recall that specific question, but I would have been happy to respond. No file was closed unless we had looked at every aspect, from a legislative perspective, from a factual...and even if we did not have jurisdiction, we would refer the matter, to try.... We had people help for social services.

Public Accounts committee  No, I don't think so. In fact, my understanding is that I could delegate decisions according to the act.

Public Accounts committee  Sir, we implemented the act that you've given to my office. We had 15 serious investigations after three years. We were on the verge of issuing the report, and it is normal, looking at access and other organizations. We were evolving in a measured and appropriate way. All of the decisions were a consensus, based on review and quality control.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  You have a non-negotiable offer. I didn't know what the details were. I was shocked, I was surprised, I was exhausted, I was tired. This was contrary to my wish, my discussions with the chair. I've explained the extremely difficult two years that we had had to go through.

Public Accounts committee  No, the reason is.... Somebody referred to the fact that the Auditor General had written to the Privy Council Office. I had no choice but to respond. My lawyer was copied on that file.

Public Accounts committee  And at that time I wanted to explain en français and I had a francophone lawyer.

Public Accounts committee  PCO will keep their distance in whatever...you've seen it before. Of course, I had done my duty. I was intent on staying until the tabling of my third annual report, and I was convinced.... And probably the story would be very different today if I had had the opportunity to table my first case report.