Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, with permission, I would be happy to.... In management consulting what's often done on questions like this is to describe the overall--

Public Accounts committee  I appreciate the question. I will answer the question. Let me begin with our work with the Department of Finance. Our work with the federal government generally is a fraction of our overall business. And to correct the record, the time of our contract was more than just one year.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know with precision, sir, the date exactly when we started work, but I believe it was more than 45 days of work.

Public Accounts committee  At present, sir, there are no contracts that MacPhie & Company has.

Public Accounts committee  I want to answer your questions the best that I can. However, I would ask the chair, is this question consistent with--

Public Accounts committee  I believe, sir, there have been other contracts on top of that. But that is roughly correct, yes.

Public Accounts committee  One that I'm aware of, which I don't believe has been in the public record, is that subsequent to some work we did with Health Canada related to some communications issues within their department, we were invited back to provide some education to the civil servants. Let me be very clear on this: the minister's office had nothing to do with that particular contract.

Public Accounts committee  I'm glad you asked the question, sir. The number of hours MacPhie & Company worked with respect to our contract on the federal budget was in excess of the numbers we actually billed. So to be clear, the professional services that we provided to the Department of Finance were worth more than the amount for which we invoiced.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct.

Public Accounts committee  Well, no. We worked those hours and make no apologies for having worked very hard on that.

Public Accounts committee  The work began in mid-January, based on the request we had from the Department of Finance to do this work. They came to us. They said “We would like you involved with Budget 2007 communications”. We were clearly very happy and thrilled to get that invitation and began working in good faith.

Public Accounts committee  No.

Public Accounts committee  This is a matter of great debate within our firm, sir. We currently work out of our own homes, which as many would know is efficient and contributes to productivity, but we're debating among ourselves as to whether or not office space is appropriate.

Public Accounts committee  I'd be proud to do so, sir. MacPhie & Company, as I said in my opening statement, is a small business. I formed the firm approximately four and a half or five years ago--

Public Accounts committee  Okay, I'd be happy to. There are four people who work in MacPhie & Company, and we work in Toronto, Ontario.