Finance committee  Thank you very much, Chair and members of the committee. I'm glad to be here with you today. You're correct, Chair. I do not have an opening statement. I'm here to answer your questions to the best of my ability and, Chair, I would suggest we get right at it.

Finance committee  In general, yes.

Finance committee  Not to my knowledge, Chair. I would say that the due diligence is carried out primarily through the negotiation or the development of a contribution agreement, which was certainly done in this case. If there were obvious problems related to an organization that were related to

Finance committee  —that would be—

Finance committee  Not to my knowledge, sir, no.

Finance committee  I did not personally have those discussions, Chair. I think it would be helpful for the committee to understand, and I'll be very brief about this, that the clerk is not always in the room where the decisions—

Finance committee  Yes, PCO definitely. Definitely.

Finance committee  There were briefings of the Prime Minister and the PCO before cabinet meetings. There was a briefing with the Prime Minister and PCO on May 21, for example. There may have been an earlier discussion upstream in the development of the program with the Prime Minister.

Finance committee  I'll have to get the date to you. I'm happy, by the way, Chair, to provide extensive documentation, including timelines, to the committee, which I'm sure will assist the committee in its work.

Finance committee  Personally, no.

Finance committee  In the context of the suitability of a third party, and specifically the WE Charity as the third party, this was part of the cabinet discussion, and yes, the PM was briefed by PCO on it.

Finance committee  This would have been one minister; if I remember correctly, Minister Chagger.

Finance committee  I wouldn't use the word “refused”. It's because Minister Chagger is the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and this was a youth program, and the Department of Employment and Social Development supported that minister in the development of the program.

Finance committee  It would have been the natural placement of responsibility. As the senior ADM in that area of the department, the responsibility would naturally have fallen to her.

Finance committee  It is the same answer, Chair. This would have fallen within Michelle's responsibilities as the relevant ADM.