Government Operations committee  It's not about whether I agree with the ruling or not. This is the government position—

Government Operations committee  Again, I would have to take that back to our legal counsel, who ultimately make the determination. I will say—

Government Operations committee  You'll forgive me that I don't know what other committees have asked for unredacted documents. I think our position has been consistent, though. When asked to produce documents, we produce them in both official languages and with appropriate redactions.

Government Operations committee  I do not know with confidence there has not been any discussion with the committee clerk or the committee chair. I know that is done in some cases. It's a different part of PCO, and I did not ask that question. I can't say with absolute confidence that hasn't happened. I can continue—

Government Operations committee  These specific documents...?

Government Operations committee  Forgive me. I'm not sure I understand the question.

Government Operations committee  I would need to return to the committee to say exactly who submitted the policy. It was submitted to a parliamentary committee on behalf of the government, if you're talking about the 1973 principles governing the production of government documents.

Government Operations committee  Privy Council Office encourages consistency across the government. Each individual deputy has accountability in terms of redactions for their own department, but we absolutely encourage consistency across the government.

Government Operations committee  I am not aware whether they have.

Government Operations committee  I think, in any case, on a case-by-case basis, the government would seek counsel from the Department of Justice and would make a determination of public interest for certain documents. There are certainly examples in recent memory where the government has allowed cabinet confidences, for example, to be used in a commission of inquiry, or examples where we have found alternatives, like in the health motion, to allow members to view documents that would be national security in nature.

Government Operations committee  In the case of the PCO, we did translate all of our documents and provide them to the committee. We absolutely made extra efforts to ensure that all documents were provided in both official languages, as we always do. As I mentioned, in contrast with other departments, we had a relatively small number of pages, so it was, perhaps, easier for us to do some of that.

Government Operations committee  It would have been the government that tabled it, I believe, at a parliamentary committee, if I'm not mistaken. The “Open and Accountable Government” that I referenced would have been approved by the Prime Minister in 2011 and then reaffirmed by the current Prime Minister.

Government Operations committee  We had an audit done of our McKinsey contracts. It similarly found some issues around information management in particular—safeguarding the original contract and making sure that we had some of the evidence on hand. Similar to my colleague, we won't assume that this is the same case for other contracts, but we can't say with confidence that it's not.

Government Operations committee  I consulted, in advance of appearing at this committee, our legislative House planning team within the Privy Council Office, along with our legal counsel, to refresh my memory on the protocols that are in place for dealing with parliamentary committees, along with the reasons that certain information must be redacted.

Government Operations committee  I did not consult the parliamentary law clerk.