Government Operations committee  I am.

Government Operations committee  Sorry, Madam Chair, could I just finish?

Government Operations committee  I'm also aware that Ms. Dawson testified before the ethics committee about that letter as well, and I think it's fair to say that Ms. Dawson's recollections of the letter and the way she presented them during her testimony were by far more accurate because she had seen the letter.

Government Operations committee  The first call, I believe, was in advance of when the Ethics Commissioner's office called Mr. Snowdy. I wanted to make sure that the Ethics Commissioner's office was not hung out to dry and did not know where to go to source the information, which was the subject of the letter.

Government Operations committee  Again, they weren't asking any questions of me that would impinge on solicitor-client privilege, so it was not necessary to invoke that principle.

Government Operations committee  I might have missed the first part of your question. Can you try that again? Sorry.

Government Operations committee  From my call with Mr. Watt, I understood that he had been approached to assist them, and he wanted to better understand the situation in making his determination as to whether he would take that retainer.

Government Operations committee  I gave her the detail that I had from Mr. Snowdy, as I have described here today. The call also talked about other related items, if you want to call them that. We talked about why it was proper that she resign from cabinet. I think this is an important point for everyone in this committee to understand.

Government Operations committee  Her reaction was emotional. Almost on every point, when I was laying out the allegations, she had a response as to the untruthfulness of that allegation. Just so you understand, this wasn't a debate. I wasn't arguing with her. I wasn't suggesting that it was true. It was the fact that those allegations were out there.

Government Operations committee  I'll answer that.

Government Operations committee  As I said in my opening statement, I am confident that I took her through all of the allegations, which were repeated to me by Mr. Snowdy, in our phone calls on April 9. I'm not going to get into somebody disregarding an oath, or lying, but if somebody says that Ms. Guergis was not told by me, on April 9, of the allegations that were surfacing, the person saying that would be incorrect.

Government Operations committee  I don't agree with all the propositions you built into the speech before your question, sir, but be that as it may, as I said to your colleague already, people have subjective impressions of what they may have thought they said, etc. And if Mr. Snowdy has testified that he doesn't believe he made any allegations against Ms.

Government Operations committee  I did.

Government Operations committee  There were two conversations that day. The first one was certainly shorter than the second, and the two together lasted more than 20 minutes, in my recollection.

Government Operations committee  The first call was placed to me by Ms. Guergis. She was clearly emotional. I believe when I answered the phone--I customarily answer “Arthur Hamilton”--without her introducing herself, I could hear she was, if not crying, very emotional: Arthur, what's going on? I believe that is almost a direct quote.