Government Operations committee  I'm certainly aware of the appointment. I heard about it in the House as well as you did. I understand this individual is a meritorious individual. He's qualified, if you look at the qualifications that are required to fulfil this particular position. I know that several allega

Government Operations committee  What...that the ombudsman would interfere with the minister?

Government Operations committee  But that's done every day, and appropriately so. The ombudsman in fact has a role to appropriately intervene and ask questions and try to resolve certain things, whether we're talking about an ombudsman or an auditor general, who obviously performs a different type of a role. The

Government Operations committee  Well, the role is to ensure that if there are concerns about a particular contracting process, those.... I don't think it's good enough to always say that the rules were followed exactly. If you follow the rules exactly, as a small business person, I will never access these contr

Government Operations committee  Well, first of all, I don't know whether the Manitoban societies ever received any money under that program.

Government Operations committee  Well, it's nice that you tell me that, but the program would never tell us who actually received money. So I have no way of saying—

Government Operations committee  Well, now, hold on, how would I know that? When I made inquiries, I was told that information could not be disclosed, that it was subject to solicitor-client privilege.

Government Operations committee  There are practical issues beyond the control of the government as well when you're dealing with crown corporations. For example, the access to information that.... For example, I know that some of them are coming in April 1, and we assume that those are coming in. But the crown

Government Operations committee  Are you asking me if I agree with you that it was a contempt of Parliament?

Government Operations committee  I don't agree. I can explain exactly why I think everything was done in an appropriate fashion. Indeed, had there not been this inordinate delay in the Senate, the concerns you're expressing could have been addressed in an appropriate fashion much earlier.

Government Operations committee  There are certain things, for example, for which we simply couldn't wait for the act to be passed--and the act might never have passed. So I'm prepared to simply say, look, the act is done. We can start off on a new foot. We can work together, and I'm looking to you and your coop

Government Operations committee  I don't want to get into that specifically. We were pleased to see that the contract was announced. We think it was a good deal for Canadians.

Government Operations committee  Generally speaking, I would think that a minister who would interfere with an ombudsman would do so at his or her own peril. It would just be—

Government Operations committee  More importantly, as important as the money is, it can also be seen as almost a contempt of Parliament to presume that Parliament will do something. In a minority situation, that's a very difficult thing to do. I think you're right. I have to say that in discussing this matter

Government Operations committee  You are asking me what the facts of that particular contract are. I don't have all the facts. If you want the facts, bring the minister here. Let him answer. What I am prepared to say is that my responsibility in Treasury Board is to ensure that there is accountability, that ther