Finance committee  Six of those public service career years were spent as the deputy minister of Employment and Social Development in fact. I will not speak for officials in that department or in Minister Chagger's area of youth support, but my understanding is that a program will be stood up. It

Finance committee  Well, I certainly understand and appreciate the vote of confidence as one would expect from PSAC, and I generally agree entirely, of course, with the ability and the talent of the public service to deliver programs, and I think we have seen what the public service is able to stan

Finance committee  Personally, no.

Finance committee  In the context of the suitability of a third party, and specifically the WE Charity as the third party, this was part of the cabinet discussion, and yes, the PM was briefed by PCO on it.

Finance committee  This would have been one minister; if I remember correctly, Minister Chagger.

Finance committee  I wouldn't use the word “refused”. It's because Minister Chagger is the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and this was a youth program, and the Department of Employment and Social Development supported that minister in the development of the program.

Finance committee  It would have been the natural placement of responsibility. As the senior ADM in that area of the department, the responsibility would naturally have fallen to her.

Finance committee  It is the same answer, Chair. This would have fallen within Michelle's responsibilities as the relevant ADM.

Finance committee  To the best of my knowledge, Chair, the answer to that is no. There were discussions involving Employment and Social Development, Finance, the ministers' offices of Finance and the Prime Minister's Office throughout various stages of the development of the proposal, but the pro

Finance committee  The answer, as far as I am aware, is no.

Finance committee  Primarily the responsibility for the contribution agreement would be the relevant department, but the broad lines of a contribution agreement might very well involve scrutiny by the Privy Council Office or the Department of Finance, or even frequently the Treasury Board Secretari

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Chair and members of the committee. I'm glad to be here with you today. You're correct, Chair. I do not have an opening statement. I'm here to answer your questions to the best of my ability and, Chair, I would suggest we get right at it.

Finance committee  In general, yes.

Finance committee  Not to my knowledge, Chair. I would say that the due diligence is carried out primarily through the negotiation or the development of a contribution agreement, which was certainly done in this case. If there were obvious problems related to an organization that were related to

Finance committee  —that would be—