Canada-China Relations committee  Of course, I can't speak on behalf of what the Prime Minister meant, but I can tell you that there was an agreement with officials that we would consider the possibility of an extradition treaty. It was something less than agreeing to negotiating a treaty. There were discussions

Canada-China Relations committee  There were discussions between Canadian and Chinese officials about the Chinese interest in negotiating a treaty.

Canada-China Relations committee  Again, I can't speak to what the Prime Minister said or didn't say. I can tell you that there was an agreement between officials that there would be discussions, and discussions took place. Where that fits into what you're describing as a statement from the Prime Minister, I can'

Canada-China Relations committee  There were preliminary discussions about whether we might be interested in negotiating a treaty. No treaty has been negotiated.

Canada-China Relations committee  They were not formal discussions, so they didn't formally commence or formally end. It would be possible to continue to have discussions.

Canada-China Relations committee  This wasn't a policy direction from the government. It was an agreement between officials to have a discussion. There was no formal mandate from the government to negotiate a treaty.

Canada-China Relations committee  There's never been any formal mandate to negotiate a treaty with China. That hasn't changed.

Canada-China Relations committee  I don't have anything more to say, other than that we don't require a formal mandate to have preliminary discussions about whether a country might be interested in a treaty. These kinds of discussions happen among officials, between Canada and a number of different countries—

Canada-China Relations committee  To negotiate a treaty, we would require a formal mandate, and we don't have one.

Canada-China Relations committee  I'm sorry. I don't have that answer.

Canada-China Relations committee  I'm not sure if I can even get you an answer, because the discussions could have taken place between officials from my department or they could have taken place from officials in Global Affairs.... I'm not sure I can give you a—

Canada-China Relations committee  The ability to withdraw the authority to proceed is provided for in the legislation. It has been delegated to officials in the international assistance group. The considerations are the same considerations that would exist in issuing the authority to proceed in the first instance

Canada-China Relations committee  No, they're both delegated to officials.

Canada-China Relations committee  It's not an issue for treaty partners; it's an internal justice issue. That was determined when the legislation first passed. A decision was made that all of the discretion that was vested in the minister would be delegated to officials, with the exception of a decision on surren

Canada-China Relations committee  There are two levels of appeal. There's an appeal “as of right” to the court of appeal of the province. It could be the British Columbia Court of Appeal or the Ontario Court of Appeal, depending on where the case is. That's an appeal from the committal. There's also a judicial re