National Defence committee  No, in fact I said the exact.... This is important. I said there has not been any political interference. And what do I mean by that?

National Defence committee  There's a very important point for me to clarify. When I talk about political interference, I'm talking about it once the government says to do something. In other words, under the agreement on internal trade, we now have very significant legal consequences if the process is unde

National Defence committee  From my perspective, point one, when ministers would come in, the senior officials I would work with--and I'm talking about all departments, but National Defence in particular--I think provided objective briefings to the minister with a wide set of options, as opposed to trying t

National Defence committee  I don't get royalties, I want you to know, so this is purely—

National Defence committee  That's a great question, and it should be a concern. But this is why you can't look at that option or recommendation in isolation. This committee has a key role. If you don't hold that minister accountable, if you don't get the information you need to hold that minister's feet

National Defence committee  Let me start on a few things in a random order First of all, in terms of the transcripts, my point is more than transcripts. It's not so much my opening statement and Doug's that I'm thinking of. But given your limited resources, I would expect that one of your researchers would

National Defence committee  I hope this isn't really a dramatically new me; I like the old me. But you're quite right: when you are in the bureaucracy, you're part of that team. If you disagree internally, once the decisions are made, that's what you reflect as part of the citizen, and I don't think you'd w

National Defence committee  In my opinion, you put your finger on the most important point. That's the accountability. As I made the point in my comments and in the book, I think all levels of accountability are not where they ought to be, if in fact the process is to be the best it can be. Without being

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a great pleasure to be back here again, albeit in a different perspective, with my friend and colleague, Doug Bland, to discuss Canadian defence procurement. I will keep my remarks brief so we can have as much time as possible for questions. Def