Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Distinguished colleagues or former colleagues, it is a real pleasure to be back on the Hill. The adrenalin starts to flow. I spent about nine years in this room and in caucus meetings every Wednesday morning. It wasn't always easy to caucus here, but

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I am a pharmacist by profession. I have worked in our communities health care services for 50 years. I am a former mayor of Dollard-des-Ormeaux and I am still a pharmacist by profession. Perhaps you should ask the people of Dollard-des-Ormeaux if I have done anything.

Information & Ethics committee  I would like to give you a complete answer. Perhaps you think that I have not had a very meaningful career, but I am still working today. I invite people to come to Canada. I give speeches inviting them to come to Montreal, to Quebec and to Canada. I think that they feel there is

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I have never had a single meal with Mr. Soudas. In all honesty, I can say that, in 1984, I had a team of 2,000 or 3,000 people working with me. Subsequently, some of those people came with me to Ottawa to help me as a member of Parliament, and then as a minister in the

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, before I accept that entire responsibility, I want to say that the former chairman put the system in place, and I completely agree with him. Since I have been the chairman of the board, the system has been tightened. We have five professionals with a great deal of expe

Information & Ethics committee  It is very clear that you have to separate operational expenses and budgets from capital and discretionary expenditures. Operational budgets are covered by a budget that's presented and a plan that is approved. That plan and budget are then followed very carefully and progressive

Information & Ethics committee  —were in from the beginning. Operating expenses are the purview of the CEO of the corporation.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, in almost 30 years in public life, I have never hidden. I have always been available. No reporters have called me. However, my number is in the phone book, as it was for all those years when I was a member of Parliament, a mayor or a councillor. I have not received a c

Information & Ethics committee  It was on June 26, 2009. I remember. It was my birthday.

Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely.

Information & Ethics committee  The president of Canada Lands at that time, Marc Rochon, called me and indicated he was proposing that I be named a member of the board of the Old Port of Montreal.

Information & Ethics committee  Madame Benoit has been there since 2004, I believe. I think it has been 12 years.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm sorry.

Information & Ethics committee  I was not, sir. Mr. Chair, I was not.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm a small, simple pharmacist in the town called Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec. When I first opened, nobody came in, so I understand the value of a dollar. I still try to manage people's money the same way I would if it were my own. If you're asking me whether I wo