Public Safety committee  Mr. O'Toole, first of all, Mr. Akin was not on the list of journalists I briefed on background on February 22—

Public Safety committee  Can I just finish answering your question? The journalists who were briefed on background on February 22 in the afternoon and in the evening, and on February 23 in the morning, were the ones who were accompanying the Prime Minister. The choice was made by the PMO. That's not some

Public Safety committee  I'm just saying that Mr. Akin did not receive the full background briefing.

Public Safety committee  No, what I meant by “we”—

Public Safety committee  I don't think there would have been much credibility for a political staffer to go and explain that people were using the names of three respected public institutions in an inappropriate way to try to create a narrative that was totally false. That's the rationale. I think I've e

Public Safety committee  I have three points in response to that. Two of the positions I've held at the Privy Council Office have involved crisis management, cabinet secretary for operations and national security advisor. I have also worked in positions abroad. In Haiti, for instance, I was constantly

Public Safety committee  I could not comment on that. The only thing I know is that we were not aware of such a meeting. They've agreed there would be regular foreign policy ministerial meetings. We were not aware that there was such a meeting scheduled, that such a decision had been made. The Indian h

Public Safety committee  I'm not an expert in parliamentary practice, but I mean the two days when you went through a number of votes, including the vote on having me appear. If I've used the wrong term, I apologize. I have never worked on the Hill.

Public Safety committee  You're correct, sir.

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  I'm going to go back to Mr. Dubé's question on synergy. It makes it easier to answer your question. Before I did the background briefing, I spoke to my right arm, who was in Delhi, and I explained what we were going to do. I can tell you the—

Public Safety committee  To be very clear, what I told the media in the background briefing was that there was what seemed to be orchestrated misinformation. They asked me, and I went out of my way to say very clearly that this was not the Government of India. They asked who it was. I said that they were

Public Safety committee  Under the previous government...?

Public Safety committee  I don't think I said that, but I certainly can talk about background briefings without attribution. I think what you meant is that I said in my career I've always—

Public Safety committee  Just to be clear, what I've actually said is that it is my personal practice when I offer, whether live briefings or background briefings, to always consult with the political side. I've always done that. Not all officials do that. Also, because you see a lot of confusion in the