Information & Ethics committee  That is a very good question. I cannot answer it. Today, I might ask some questions. I would like to make two points. First, let us talk about my first meeting with Prime Minister Mulroney. When he offered me the position, he told me how the system worked. He told me that all my predecessors had performed this duty and that this would be one of my duties as chief of staff.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know. I was not involved in this practice in British Columbia. I was only a deputy minister. He had a principal secretary who looked after the more political duties.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm having trouble hearing you. May I use the earpiece? Go ahead.

Information & Ethics committee  Certainly. Just one clarification. I said that I would be able to identify the sources of the cash brought back to 24 Sussex Drive. The word “rapportées” is the word that was used in the article in Le Devoir. I have three documents, one is a package, and there were two specific documents.

Information & Ethics committee  No. I was never on the party side.

Information & Ethics committee  I wrote about all this in the Kaplan afterword, which explains why the text I wrote in Le Devoir did not become a front-page story in Le Devoir and did not become a story in The Globe and Mail, both of which had the text. The reason it did not become a front-page story in Le Devoir and The Globe and Mail, whereas it did in La Presse, is that the reporters for Le Devoir and the reporters for The Globe and Mail had read the afterword, so they knew I had already written about this.

Information & Ethics committee  It does not specify. I should say there's absolutely no indication that it was cash, a cheque, or however. On an annual basis this would amount to $135,000. That's the second document I brought. The third document I brought is a summary of the PC Party inventory at 24 Sussex and at Harrington Lake.

Information & Ethics committee  The evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Information & Ethics committee  Good afternoon.

Information & Ethics committee  It's clear.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you know, I am not delighted to be in Ottawa today. That has to do with the snow and the weather, it is true, but it also has to do with the climate here. I left this city in 1996 after I resigned from the public service of Canada. I resigned from the public service in circumstances eerily parallel to my brief but still-shining moment with Karlheinz Schreiber, with one significant difference.