Procedure and House Affairs committee  I did deep enough. We were briefed. We were given paperwork to see and read what the role of it was. We were given a book that we had to read beforehand that talked about the role of the Senate. I read it through and through to understand what it actually meant. The book was extr

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I left India at the age of 19, and I went to Austria. I didn't speak a word of German, and now I speak fluent German. Being multicultural or having learned different languages, you learn to understand and respect the others' boundaries and who they are. I think that teaches you t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, I will say, in India you learn democracy. You learn the role that senators and the Senate play. Obviously you have a total understanding of what their role is. Before that, we were briefed all together, all of us with the role. We were given a binder and we were given all

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Is that question for me?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the independent board does represent the academic, with Anne Giardini, who was the chancellor of SFU, and me as the commoner, chef, and businessman, as part of it. It represents those two people, and I think if I look around the independent board, we were very well chosen

Procedure and House Affairs committee  May I?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Having a restaurant means that people come to your restaurant all the time, and having the amount of restaurants that I have.... People come to the restaurants, and there were a lot of people who had applied, and I knew they were applying for it because there was an element of...

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Can I just answer that for a second, Mr. Richards?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, sorry.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think we do understand that choosing the right person or recommending the right person, whether it is to anyPrime Minister—it doesn't matter which party they belong to—reflects on us. It is our legacies and it is our names that are on it. We are the people who are in the commun

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Fortunately, there was no conflict that arose from our deliberations. As a true leader, if I were asking somebody to do something and they didn't agree with me, I would still want to have the last word, because I am the leader of what I'm doing. In a true democracy, that's what

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I believe my role as an immigrant who came to this country, having started as a commoner and still as a common human being who was a chef and now has done entrepreneurial work, has given me the way of thinking, of understanding somebody who is in the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm sorry. I didn't hear what happened there.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay. Will I just keep waiting?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Right.