Public Accounts committee  My understanding of what took place is that Mr. McConnell came directly to me with a memo indicating what I stated several times before, that they did not want the report to be released because of personal information and so on and so forth.

Public Accounts committee  That was a memo signed by Mr. Gauvin, telling me that their position was that there was personal information in the investigation and the report should not be released.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct, yes.

Public Accounts committee  So anyway, Mr. Estabrooks gave me the memo that was referred to. At that point, he was complaining to me about the fact that the report was not going out, and that's the way I took it. And I took it to mean that some action had to be taken in terms of that report being released.

Public Accounts committee  What was the question, sir?

Public Accounts committee  Unfortunately, it's a reality of my life. When I process a file, I have to take into account two acts: the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. I can't do anything about that.

Public Accounts committee  That's right. The document came from outside. We at access to information are not responsible for classifying documents. We take them as they are when they arrive.

Public Accounts committee  I have absolutely no authority to declassify documents. I take them as I receive them.

Public Accounts committee  If you are referring to—

Public Accounts committee  It was certainly an RCMP document, but when it arrived in my office, it was classified "secret".

Public Accounts committee  But—

Public Accounts committee  Yes, you did. As I indicated before, on the 21st I was told that this report should not be released, for the reasons we heard. My comment to Mr. McConnell was that there was no way this report was not going to be released; that we were taking into account the concerns they had,

Public Accounts committee  No, I didn't say it was fairly common practice. I agree it was unusual.

Public Accounts committee  It was unusual, yes.

Public Accounts committee  No, I didn't say that. I said it was unusual to send a report of that nature before it was released.