Mr. Rob Wright:

I was here for three months, or not even that. I was here on four trips over three months. I cannot say that. What I can say is that members of the Department - the staff of the Department - were not connected clearly enough to the sense of purpose of senior managers. In an informal process, one could interpret that. Certainly once any Minister makes his decision, one is going to implement that Minister's decision. The qualm I had was whether, at the time, the Minister had very clear advice from the Department on what was appropriate to the circumstance. If he overruled that and went on, that is his prerogative - he is the Minister. That observation really underscores something else that we observed that said one has to modernise the management regime in this Department so people are connected.

One of the times I was here was a budget night. People in the Department went home to see what was in the budget. I found that incredible. Why did they not know what was in the budget? They are in the Department of Finance. There was not a connection to these core pieces.

I am not advocating Canadianising your service, but in Canada-----