Public Accounts committee  That's correct. Essentially, it is the Auditor General of Canada, to my surprise, who took allegations, which to this day are unfounded, to the Privy Council Office. I have never seen this in my whole career. It was the Auditor General who went on a specific disposition that...I think general information can be brought to the attention of Treasury Board.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have to say that when the Auditor General looked at the area of expertise, my financial records, my public accounts, they found nothing wrong, and this is the area of expertise. Outside the area of expertise of the Auditor General, the Auditor General is wrong, and I've explained in detail all the specific allegations.

Public Accounts committee  I apologize, Mr. Chair. I am passionate. That is one of my—

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely not, but I have to say I don't know which note this is. I've not had access to this.

Public Accounts committee  Never was a specific case discussed with any ministers or any people outside the organization.

Public Accounts committee  As I explained, the minister has responsibilities under the act, such as a code of conduct and a five-year review. And yes, our cases--we essentially lay it out in the annual report--are complex. But no specific case was ever discussed. My general counsel was in attendance at those two meetings and can confirm the same.

Public Accounts committee  What is the question, Mr. Chair? There are a number of issues you've raised.

Public Accounts committee  With respect to independence, I jealously guarded our independence. In fact, I was concerned enough to ask the Office of the Auditor General to investigate a potential breach of confidentiality during my meeting, because I was concerned that issues concerning cases be discussed.

Public Accounts committee  Specifics of any case would never be discussed. There was one instance when a discloser went to complain to the Privy Council Office that he had not been attended to. This was referred back to the registrar, of course. Maybe they just wanted to know whether we had taken care of this, because they don't like to have disclosers knock at their door.

Public Accounts committee  I was not aware of his comments. He made his comments. I explained the reason I accepted.

Public Accounts committee  I have looked at every single conclusion and observation, and if you read my written statement, I address every single aspect. It took two years, which, in and of itself, is very unusual. This is a very small organization of 20 people. There were teams of seven auditors showing up at our door.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  They were interested in the reasons. But in every case, I sought out the help of parliamentarians so that my mandate would be better known. It is natural in the evolution of an institution to have fifteen investigations after three years. But they were interested in the work—I was never challenged on the specifics.

Public Accounts committee  I think I did that in explaining the mandate, the complexity. I was reminded by many jurists that if the office erred in its first few years, if we were accused of undue process, if we did not render the right decisions, it would cause irreparable harm. For these reasons, we needed to make sure that we had quality control, revision, and consensus in all cases.

Public Accounts committee  Never.