Information & Ethics committee  It's stated as a fact, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  The $2.1 million was an adjudicated amount of money through an arbitration process to reimburse his legal and public relations costs. He was never paid damages. This has to be understood. Number two, the facts, as they were stated in the letters, were completely wrong. They never had any evidence to back these up, and they still don't.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't have the competence of Allan Rock, who is a well-known top-gun litigator in Ontario.

Information & Ethics committee  The number $300,000 is a figure that came out in the media. It came out in The Globe and Mail. We never denied it, and then it became the truth, or was perceived as being the truth, and I never tried to fight back. I never asked if it was the exact amount of money.

Information & Ethics committee  No. Mr. Mulroney is the chairman of the board of Quebecor World, which is a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc.

Information & Ethics committee  I didn't say the media made this up. I said the figure of $300,000 is the figure that came from a story by Bill Kaplan in The Globe and Mail, which I never fought back on, on behalf of my client. This figure is the one that was floating out there, and I never specifically asked whether it was $300,000 or it was less.

Information & Ethics committee  I knew of the existence of an arrangement with his law office at his law firm that allowed him to have a separate consulting firm. I take it for granted that it was all properly organized.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I don't.

Information & Ethics committee  Why would you say that?

Information & Ethics committee  I retract what I said. I would put him in the top three.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't want to join the misquoted, so I'm standing by the quote, but it has to be put in context. The context is that I was having a conversation with a journalist; the same story was reported by two different journalists, and in both cases the quotations were the same but they were interpreted differently.

Information & Ethics committee  He called me that evening.

Information & Ethics committee  In the spring of 2000.

Information & Ethics committee  My title was deputy chief of staff.