Public Accounts committee  As part of previous proceedings, according to what I read, you were made aware of a letter sent by my Secretary of State, Mr. Claude Drouin, to Mr. Boudria who was the Minister of Public Works and Government Services at the time. On March 28, 2002, I confirmed to Mr. Norman Couture, who was the Regional Director of Public Works and Government Services in Montreal, that I had agreed to move to Place Bonaventure.

Public Accounts committee  I simply can't answer that question because you are only referring to memos and documents from employees of Public Works. I was in no way involved in the discussions that took place between the two dates you have referred to.

Public Accounts committee  Initially, Public Work took responsibility for that decision. Following a letter from Mr. Claude Drouin, which you have read and heard about, Public Works began negotiations with the owners of Place Victoria, the Stock Exchange Tower. Because they had greatly reduced the cost of the space in relation to what they initially were asking for, Public Works felt that we could stay in the Stock Exchange Tower and that it would be able to rent the space it had already leased at Place Bonaventure.

Public Accounts committee  It depends on your viewpoint. For myself, as administrator of the Economic Development Agency of Canada, I would have preferred to move because it would have given us more flexibility in terms of office space. Furthermore, because our offices had been at the Stock Exchange Tower for a very long time already, and that terms of the negotiations between Public Works Canada and the owners of the Stock Exchange Tower, once the leased had been renewed for five years—which will be ending next year—we were unable to make the slightest improvement in terms of bringing down costs.

Public Accounts committee  We never were in any way involved in discussions, negotiations or talks between the Department of Public Works and owners, of either Place Bonaventure or the Stock Exchange Tower. That is perfectly normal. That is the usual process. The Department of Public Works is the one that does the negotiating.

Public Accounts committee  As I recall, the only improvement to have been made related to handicapped access.

Public Accounts committee  I honestly don't remember, since I wasn't involved in those discussions. However, it is true that during the term of that lease—for five years, in other words—the Economic Development Agency of Canada was unable to make any improvement whatsoever, so as to avoid any additional costs.

Public Accounts committee  Well, what basically happened was this: the Economic Development Agency of Canada and all the departments that came before it, and which had responsibility at the federal level for economic development, have always had offices at Place Victoria, which is also called the Stock Exchange Tower.

Public Accounts committee  About 30 people, as I recall.

Public Accounts committee  Originally, we needed more space because we had been given additional responsibilities. As well, some employees who were in charge of the first infrastructure program were housed in another building. So, we needed extra space to repatriate those employees. I don't want to go into too much technical and administrative detail, but as Deputy Minister, when I received my annual budget, there was some flexibility there in terms of the way I could use it.

Public Accounts committee  As far as I know, yes.

Public Accounts committee  You made reference to the role I played between 1999 and 2003. I believe it is important to mention a number of dates connected with the decision of the Economic Development Agency of Canada not to move to Place Bonaventure. You must remember that our lease ended on March 31, 2003 and that all discussions with Public Works Canada with respect to preparing the process had begun more than a year and a half earlier, starting in December of 2000.