Public Accounts committee  I didn't exist at that point. I think perhaps to give you the kind of colour commentary play-by-play that it sounds like you're looking for, perhaps it's best if I turn either to you, Andrew, or to Maude. Andrew, why don't you lead off?

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, through you, we will undertake a thorough analysis of the program, particularly against its fundamental objective, as I've said before, of maintaining the working relationship, the employment relationship, between an individual and their employer, which continues to

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, through you, I think we'll undertake a thorough analysis of the program in all its aspects.

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I will turn that question to my colleague Andrew Marsland.

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I will pass this on to my colleague Andrew Marsland, who was there. He lived through this period, and of course I did not. Just very briefly, however, these things are always a combination of effort between the government and the public service. I think that was ve

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I'd like to turn to my colleagues Andrew Marsland or Maude Lavoie on that point.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, that's correct. This has been a major initiative of the government. I think that by the time all is said and done with this program, its total contribution to the Canadian economy and to protecting Canadian jobs will be something in the order of $100 billion to $110 billion.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for your invitation today. I am pleased to be here along with some of my colleagues from the Department of Finance: Andrew Marsland, whom you all know from previous meetings; Isabelle Jacques, our chief counsel; and Maude Lavo

Public Accounts committee  I think the quickest way to respond to your question, Mr. Lawrence, is to pass it to my colleague, Andrew Marsland, who was there at the time.

Public Accounts committee  I understand your question, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. However, we can't change the rules or the law. As I said earlier in response to a question, one of the aims of those rules is to protect the government's right of access to advice from the public service and to encourage the gove

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, for the specifics of that question, I'll turn to my colleague Andrew Marsland.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for those comments, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. I think I essentially answered that same question a few moments ago. We fully disclosed to the Auditor General all the analyses and work that our people at the Department of Finance performed both while this program was being

Public Accounts committee  Through you, Madam Chair, Mr. Green, again, you understand the rules under which our system works and the provision of advice. Therefore, to respect those rules and indeed the law with respect to confidences of the Queen's Privy Council, those are not details we can enter into. I

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I'm going to give Mr. Green a two-part answer. I'm going to make a couple of comments and then I'm going to ask my colleague, Andrew Marsland—

Public Accounts committee  I would say that a focus of this whole program has been maximizing the scope and reach of the program. Therefore, there was at the time, I think, very much a focus on keeping this as simple and broad as possible, because the objective was to help as many Canadians as possible, wh