Public Accounts committee  And given the telephone conversation we had had before hand.

Public Accounts committee  Because I'd had a phone conversation with him. I shared my concerns with him and he told me to send him a written request, in a transparent way, and that he would look into it. That is what was done and what I had understood from Deputy Minister Cochrane when she testified before the committee.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, the words “if possible” indicate that.

Public Accounts committee  No. It is the deputy minister who told me about the costs. It was mentioned in the testimony. For over 30 years we had been in the same place and there had only been one call for tenders. On all other occasions, it had been done by mutual agreement. If a move could be avoided, there would be cost savings, and if officials from other departments were to move to Place Bonaventure, it would not have involved additional costs.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, I have not changed anything. I've always said the same thing. I would have you note that when Public Works decided to negotiate the lease for Place Victoria, it believed other officials who needed to move would go there and that it would cost nothing more. Unfortunately, and I don't know why this is, there were some delays and that is what involved costs.

Public Accounts committee  I'm pleased to hear you get back to that point. Last year, when I came to testify, I had also received documents, that I hadn't had the time to read. I was Chief of Staff to the Department of Transportation in Quebec and I worked 70 to 90 hours per week. It's my fault, I was unable to peruse the documents before this week.

Public Accounts committee  I admitted it, it was my mistake. I'd like to respond to the point raised by the member, Mr. Chairman. As Mr. Poilievre mentioned what the deputy minister had said, of course I was aware of it. I told him I was surprised to hear that Mr. Gladu had been surprised to hear that, and we had discussed the matter together.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, this did not take place at the beginning. During the briefing sessions, everything was going very fast. It was mainly about the operation of the department and the programs we had to know about as quickly as possible. As I mentioned at the outset, I found out that we had to move when the deputy minister told me so during a weekly meeting with my chief of staff.

Public Accounts committee  No, I asked the deputy minister what he meant when he said this was going to inconvenience the employees, that they would be unhappy, that there were costs involved, etc. I asked him what he was trying to tell me, that he was asking me to intervene. I don't remember clearly, but I don't think he gave me a concrete answer; his response was rather vague.

Public Accounts committee  That is my understanding. I should never have written the letter. The deputy minister should have written the letter to the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. That's the error I made. He had mentioned the problems raised by Mr. Christopherson, namely that there was this or that negative aspect.

Public Accounts committee  I'm having some difficulty recalling what happened in 2002, but it seems to me that people were happy. I would not want to mislead members of this committee. I do not clearly recall, but I had understood that people seemed happy to be able to stay in the same place.

Public Accounts committee  No, I did not contact him. I'm sorry I didn't understand your question properly. I didn't discuss this with Mr. Gladu.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, what you just said seems to me to be very important. It was a mistake to make such a request at the administrative level. I would have really liked to have Mr. Gladu write to the deputy minister, or at least the deputy minister at Public Works Canada at the time himself rather than having me do it with Mr.

Public Accounts committee  I should like to mention something, please Mr. Chairman. I only learned about it the night before last.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, may I answer? I'm not coming here to convince you, I'm here to tell you the truth about what I experienced at the time when I was Minister of State responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada. It was clear to me that we had to move. However, the Deputy Minister, Ms.