Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. All of my activities with respect to government relations and the consultations and work I do are all registered publicly on a website. It's all available, proactive, and transparent.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  After you rose on a point of privilege in the House of Commons, I proactively wrote to you and the other members of the finance committee that I had possession of the report.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not sure.... I'm not clear. Did I warn her...?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  A professional friend relationship. I consider Mr. Ullyatt a friend. The answer to the question is yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Ullyatt was aware that I was following the proceedings of the finance committee. I never expected to receive that report. I never asked for the report, and nobody ever asked me to obtain a copy of that report.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  November 18 was when I received the report, and November 23 was the day that I communicated to the clerk of the finance committee.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not the individual at Hill & Knowlton who makes personnel decisions. Mr. Ullyatt had articulated interest in the lobbying industry and working in the lobbying industry, and I gave him some advice on how to best go about that. When he expressed interest, I did what I do with any individual who expresses an interest in Hill & Knowlton.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I want to be very clear about what I did and did not do with the report, because I know that's an issue of concern to members.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, what I did with that report was this. I received that report; I briefly took a look at it. I considered it to be nothing more than a compendium of public testimony given to the committee, and what I communicated to my client—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  —was strictly a summary paragraph of public testimony.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The report was clearly marked confidential. I understood it to be confidential.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The client was Merck Frosst.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  At no time did I share the copy of the report with any other individual, other than the communication of that paragraph—and there was a colleague of mine in my office who has also seen that paragraph—which was my only communication with relation to this report.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  —what I communicated to my client was strictly—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  When it was clear to me that this was a serious issue for the members of the finance committee, I contacted the chair of the committee, who informed me that I should immediately notify the clerk, which is the action I took on November 23 to indicate that I was also in possession of the report, that I deleted the report, and that no other individual had a copy of the report on my account.