Finance committee  Yes, most certainly. Of course, the government—

Finance committee  Thank you. I can tell you that leading up to the Prime Minister's announcement on the 22nd there were three briefings with Minister Morneau, on the 14th, the 18th and the 21st. At no point in any of these briefings did we talk about the idea, nor was advice given, to select WE

Finance committee  It's only when I have a scheduled briefing with the minister. I gave you the three scheduled briefings. In the first one, on the 14th, we were talking about the broad $9-billion package and absolutely not about WE. On the 18th and the 21st, there was a range. We talked about a g

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. The meeting that you're referring to, I believe, took place on April 18 in the evening. At this point we are discussing a broad range of issues, including—

Finance committee  Yes, I was certainly the one who initiated the meeting. We were talking about grant and credit, and whether there were opportunities for—

Finance committee  I do not recall if it was I who actually raised the idea, but what I do recall clearly is that we all agreed to it.

Finance committee  Just to be clear to the committee, it was in the context of volunteer placements and mobilizing through their social media to get students in that.

Finance committee  No. According to my records, the first mention of WE, to me, was on April 16. That, again, is in a conversation I was having with my colleagues at ESDC. Again, this is in the context of —

Finance committee  On that call on April 16, it would have been Rachel Wernick and also the associate deputy minister.

Finance committee  Benoît Robidoux.

Finance committee  This wasn't about bringing in WE. This was about the fact that we could partner with a company like WE to do volunteer matching on ESDC's—

Finance committee  The idea was a partnership: Could a company like WE do volunteer matching?

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have an opening statement, if you would permit me to read it.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Michelle Kovacevic and I am the assistant deputy minister for the federal-provincial relations and social policy branch at Finance Canada. Before I start, I was made aware just as I was coming into the office that there may be an in

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. Obviously, this is Finance and not Health Canada, but I will let you know what I do know. With respect to health research, there were two public announcements about the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Both $25-million investments in research rel