Public Accounts committee  It was Mr. Baker, as he made clear.

Public Accounts committee  You're talking now about the contract?

Public Accounts committee  I assume that was a combination of Public Works and the Canada Firearms Centre, but perhaps Public Works could speak to that.

Public Accounts committee  I wasn't involved in any crisis, but the determination of the timing was the requirement that if we were going to require sups, they had to be determined in the next few days. I don't know what the deadline was, but it was something in the first week or ten days of February. I did not see the opinion of the Treasury Board at the time.

Public Accounts committee  No, he had not.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not sure who you're asking about at the moment, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Are you talking about Mr. Pigeon?

Public Accounts committee  No, I asked the Deputy Minister of Justice, who identified Mr. Pigeon as a senior lawyer with commercial law experience, which is what I had asked for. Yes, it's true, Mr. Pigeon had to act quickly, because if we did not make a decision in that time.... We needed to have all the facts that week or else the time period would have gone by.

Public Accounts committee  I can explain to you why I asked for a legal opinion. I asked for a legal opinion because it was clear to me, in discussing with the people who had been involved in this, that they were using the terms “debt” and “liability” interchangeably, and that somehow that was significant for the accounting decision.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, what was the date you were talking about here?

Public Accounts committee  I can't speak to that. My only involvement was in the week or so around---

Public Accounts committee  I'm not the deputy head for these particular finances, but I do know that this amount was flagged in the performance report of the Firearms Centre, and I do know it was put in the public accounts, but I don't know the date. If that's the date, that's fine.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I can certainly see circumstances where one might require both accounting and legal expertise on a particular issue.

Public Accounts committee  Well, it's a little more complicated in government, because in addition to the department, we also have the Treasury Board, and I think the Firearms Centre, quite rightfully, had involved the Treasury Board. I can't say, in my experience, I've ever had the experience that in the process of deciding on whether or not supplementary estimates are required or performance reports are prepared, we've actually gone to the Auditor General.

Public Accounts committee  None that I was aware of.

Public Accounts committee  Well, from my perspective, we had a situation where at least some were proposing that the accounting treatment should change from what it had been the year before. That's the situation we were in, because the year before they had not put these amounts into the appropriation. So people were proposing to change it.