Public Accounts committee  I wasn't there, but I did ask. Again, I asked the chair of that committee yesterday so that I could speak as truthfully as possible to this committee. They felt there was no atmosphere of fear and that they were being told the truth. They met individually, in camera, with each of

Public Accounts committee  I am the head of the external audit committee.

Public Accounts committee  The audit committee was created in January 2009, which was after the initial complaints, at least. Presumably, some of the events had already happened. The committee was made aware in 2009 of the complaints and the fact that the Auditor General was looking into them. However, the

Public Accounts committee  In this case, I do, yes.

Public Accounts committee  The deputy head did.

Public Accounts committee  That was according to the Treasury Board policy as it's being interpreted by the agents of Parliament. With respect to this particular audit, I was not the chair at that time, but I spoke at length yesterday to Mr. Jean-Pierre Soublière, who was the chair at that time. He contac

Public Accounts committee  No, it was not. It was to say that we'd been made aware that a process was going on, that the Auditor General was looking at these complaints, and that as the internal committee, we were aware of them and would follow the process but did not intend to get involved in an audit tha

Public Accounts committee  Certainly. The key concern of the audit committee at the time was to make sure that whatever had happened was not still happening. At that January 21 meeting, where there had been an in camera discussion of the audit that was in process, the chair of the committee and the membe