National Defence committee  Good afternoon, Madam Chair and committee members. I have appeared in front of 13 committees; however, this is the first time under summons. I am joined today by my legal counsel Mr. Jordan Lester, partner of the law firm Cheadles in Thunder Bay, Ontario. As you are aware, I a

National Defence committee  The meeting was a scheduled meeting. There was an agenda for the meeting. There were several items. There were both departmental staff and ombudsman staff in the room at the time.

National Defence committee  Excuse me, but can what be collaborated?

National Defence committee  Excuse me. No. I can send the agenda over to the committee. You will see that at the end of the agenda there's a confidential item on which everyone else was asked to leave the room. The meeting was between me and the minister when the discussion about the sexual allegation was

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I don't think it's my position to qualify anything. All I can do is tell you the truth. I've told you what I know. I was there in the meeting.

National Defence committee  The meeting kind of ended right around that point in time. I did tell the minister what the allegation was. I reached into my pocket to show him the evidence I was holding, and he pushed back from the table and said, “No.” I don't think we exchanged another word. I did offer t

National Defence committee  No.

National Defence committee  As I said in my opening statement, I was contacted by PCO, but I thought it had something to do with me personally and with the investigation that I was under. When I went over to meet with PCO, I was asked for the evidence regarding the allegation.

National Defence committee  No, that was with Janine Sherman.

National Defence committee  I think we've heard other witnesses say that there were several options available to the minister. I did not go in with any preconceived notion of what he would, could, or couldn't do. As his direct report on the organizational chart, I was looking for some advice and guidance on

National Defence committee  As far as I know, the person who has made the allegation and I are the only two people who have seen that evidence. As I said, the minister didn't want to see the evidence.

National Defence committee  I'll go with “all of the above”. It's funny. If you look back at the cyclical approach of things that have happened—my appearances, the release of a report, a media interview—things would stop, they would start, they would become one thing and something else would happen. Is

National Defence committee  I don't know if it was an attempt at a cover-up, but I know it was a full-court press to get rid of me.

National Defence committee  I don't have an opinion on that one way or the other. The only thing I ever wanted the minister to do was his job.

National Defence committee  Again, anything that has come to my office, I hold in confidence. I will not release the names of any individuals or any types of complaints that have come to this office.