Public Accounts committee  It should be a fair assumption. Was it done in this case? Given that I wasn't there by the time the letter was answered, I cannot say whether it was in this particular transaction.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know. I wasn't there.

Public Accounts committee  Most of us are that way.

Public Accounts committee  Presumably.

Public Accounts committee  Oh, yes. My deputy minister at the time, Madame Cochrane, was absolutely fantastic. There's no doubt about that. And that's why when I received a letter from a colleague I sent it to her for processing, and then, as I indicated, I left.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know where the people who were moved there came from, but generally moving does cost money. But I wasn't the minister at the time; I was gone. When the lease finished, as a matter of fact, I hadn't been a minister for a year.

Public Accounts committee  I would have had no knowledge of transactions that took place in a city a hundred miles from where I lived one year after I had ceased to have responsibility.

Public Accounts committee  I believe all ministers do that.

Public Accounts committee  We didn't get that far. As I said, I received the letter on April 15th.

Public Accounts committee  Let me finish. The letter I received from my colleague at the time on April 15 stated that we were going to move March 31st of the following year. He was asking me whether I could check if it was necessary to move. I transmitted the letter to the department and I left. There was a year left before the move.

Public Accounts committee  I do acknowledge that Mr. Drouin sent me a letter on April 15 because I have a copy of it. However, I do not know with any certainty whether the memo dated April 2 reflected what the minister thought on April 2. How could I know that? This is pure speculation on my part. I do not know how many days previously the minister could have been informed of the matter.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know, this individual certainly did not work for me. I'm going to have to speculate somewhat in answering your question. If that is the case, you will have to forgive me. I received the formal letter from Mr. Drouin on April 15. It appears that he had telephoned me or had discussed the matter with me in person.

Public Accounts committee  Obviously I would not have had a copy of an e-mail between the minister and his officials, but I do have, nonetheless, a copy of a letter from the minister dated April 15, 2002, asking whether or not it would be possible to award a lease with Place Victoria. I gave this letter to the officials, and a few days later, I was no longer there.

Public Accounts committee  I didn't seek advice before—

Public Accounts committee  First of all, as I indicated initially, I was the Minister of Public Works for only a brief period of time. I believe that Mr. Drouin and I were appointed to our respective positions on the same day in the same cabinet shuffle. I didn't recall this, but I believe that we may have had one oral conversation about this, and it seems that I may have asked Mr.