Public Safety committee  No, because I have enough real issues in my job to deal with without dealing with hypotheticals and speculation.

Public Safety committee  That's right.

Public Safety committee  Obviously I don't believe that, and I haven't said that.

Public Safety committee  I have tried very hard—and I hope I have succeeded—not to treat any concern raised by any member of this committee as trivial. I'm certainly not suggesting any concern is trivial. I have tried to be as accurate as I can about the involvement we have, and what we do, and what our role is in terms of advising the Prime Minister.

Public Safety committee  It's always possible to change the process for background checks or security clearances, indeed, and I think I've tried to indicate a couple of times when it has changed over time. There is always a discretion to operate, as to how much you do, because all of this takes time and effort and delays the formation of cabinets, and so on.

Public Safety committee  What I said was that the deputy minister is responsible for the system within the department of how secure documents are classified, handled, and stored. Ministers are also responsible within their offices as to how they are handled once they come into their office.

Public Safety committee  I can tell you what the biggest con from my point of view is. The biggest con is that we do not normally talk about background checks at all.

Public Safety committee  Which they would do through background checks.

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry, I was trying to answer your question.

Public Safety committee  If you don't want an answer, that's fine.

Public Safety committee  Yes, we are assisting. The letter that went from the clerk to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs asked them to do it in close cooperation with the director of security operations, with PCO, which is Mr. Tardif.

Public Safety committee  That's the director of security operations at Foreign Affairs, who is....

Public Safety committee  They have hired a firm of investigators.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  I would inform the Prime Minister about any significant information about his ministry.