National Defence committee  The reason for going to the Clerk of the Privy Council is that the Clerk of the Privy Council is responsible for the apparatus that now needs to do its best with the resources that it has to respond. At this stage, there is not anything that the Prime Minister is supposed to do i

National Defence committee  My understanding at all times was that the file was not closed. I appreciated, as I indicated in my opening statement, that there was a question of whether the complainant was going to consent to her participation or the sharing of her information in the following steps. I unders

National Defence committee  There's a lot to unpack in what you said, so let me try to do my best. First of all, let me say I am not here to say that I am in any way an expert in these issues, and I don't want anything I say to be taken to be claiming that I am qualified to opine on what the next steps sho

National Defence committee  That's a good question. I didn't address that specifically in my opening statement. I don't know what exactly I understood about the exchange, but I certainly understood that Mr. Walbourne had additional information and that the minister effectively said in some way or another—

National Defence committee  I really don't want to give you a number that may be wildly inaccurate. We were engaging regularly on the issue during the time that I was involved in it.

National Defence committee  I would have given her an update as things proceeded. That's really all I can say. I don't think the number of the interactions ultimately makes a difference. We understood the situation. We understood the importance of getting the Privy Council fully engaged in trying to figure

National Defence committee  Yes. Yes, it's plural.

National Defence committee  This is why I was deliberately clear that I wasn't entirely sure who told me to call the minister's chief of staff. I don't know. It is possible that there was a conversation between the chief of staff and Ms. Telford, and then Ms. Telford said to me, please call Zita. It's possi

National Defence committee  I believe that when I walked into the clerk's office that day, this was the first time he was hearing about this issue. I don't know whether that means no one in PCO at that time had heard anything. That would be, probably, my presumption, but I don't actually have a specific rea

National Defence committee  Again, now that I'm a private citizen I'm going to leave the questions of politics to the politicians and those who play in that arena. That's not the arena I'm playing in now. I'm here to just tell you what happened, what we were thinking, what we tried to do and why we were doi

National Defence committee  I don't want to engage in a political science lecture on ministerial responsibility. You are all very capable. I'm not here in that capacity. I'm going to leave it for you to very ably, no doubt, make your arguments in the House and in the public realm about how to understand wha

National Defence committee  There was probably nothing standard about this situation, either in the manner in which the information came up or then how to respond to it. The Privy Council itself plays a very active role, and I think sometimes that doesn't get a lot of attention in relation to all Governor

National Defence committee  My recollection is that we had at least two meetings in a row. It was following that second meeting that he indicated specifically that this would be the responsibility of the senior personnel team. I think he probably would have suggested that in the first meeting as well but th

National Defence committee  That's right.

National Defence committee  I can't give you a very specific, exact sequence that I am confident is perfectly reliable, but she made herself available very quickly. We promptly discussed those issues, and then we would have remained in touch. She understood, I think, and you see in our exchanges, that I had