Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. Good bye.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have not followed it carefully other than through newspaper reports. If something comes up I will certainly let you know.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I answered in the previous question, not that I recall.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know. I think you'd have to ask him.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  First of all, I'll say that I don't recall. I have no record of that. It certainly would not have been the conclusion after the engagement that we had with them, but I don't know what else to add to you on that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Go ahead, because I agree with Ms. Michaud.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The feedback that we received from the leadership of the committee, particularly after the election, led me to conclude that, first, there was not an appreciation for how serious an issue this would be just to have the perception that there is something wrong, let alone fact. Second, I did feel that possibly there was a legislative tool gap, which is something I hope you'll explore.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Tausha, would you like to take the first crack at it and then I can jump in?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think these are things your committee is going to have to look at—other investigations are going to have to look at. I would urge you to not just reflect on actual interference and actual issues, but even just the perception. I would love the outcome of this to be a system where future political candidates and future political chairs, and chiefs of staff and campaign managers have full confidence in the system.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Let me just correct something quite important. Information relating to the 2019 election would not have coloured my participation in the task force. It was an honour and privilege to do so.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Information in connection with the 2019 election, which has since been made public, without any question would have impacted how we prosecuted that election and, I would expect, how each of the political parties would have prosecuted that election. In connection with anyone else—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll tell you this. Of course there needs to be a balance, and that's why each of the leaders needs to appoint people who are trusted, who are respectful of the process and who will take that information and deal with it in an appropriate manner. It is why, as a committee, you need to be exploring what that standard should be.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, let me start off by apologizing for my lack of fluency in French. I will answer in English. When you're in the fog of an election and you're getting feedback, the instinct is not to turn around and say, “There's foreign interference”. That would have looked very foolish at that moment, particularly given the information and access to information that we had in the task force.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The honest answer is that I don't know. I've seen the same reports you have seen. I do not know.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  One of the members asked why I didn't say anything until, I think, February 2023. The reason was that I accepted what our security establishment told us. I was upset about it. It didn't seem right to me, but, at the end of the day, I'm not a security expert; I'm a lawyer. If you have an M & A problem, I'm happy to help you, but I don't know what the difference is between a WhatsApp campaign run locally and something run by a foreign actor.