Evidence of meeting #6 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was schreiber.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
As an Individual
What can I say? Lawyer. First of all, it's Stikeman Elliott. He referred me to an excellent lawyer, Martin Langlois, and I am happy with him.
We—our families—are very close, in the meantime. When I say he's working as my lawyer, it could be, at the maximum, that I ask him for advice or whatever, but he would not do any legal work for me.
I don't know whether you know, but he is not even with Stikeman Elliott LLP anymore as a lawyer; he is acting only as what you would call an international arbitrator.
12:15 p.m.
NDP
December 4th, 2007 / 12:15 p.m.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to come back to the issue at hand, that is the Mulroney-Schreiber affair.
I would like to ask Herr Schreiber whether he could explain to us why, if no work had been done, he made a first instalment of $100,000 in Mirabel in August 1993, and then, a few months later, a second instalment of $100,000 in an another hotel in another town, and finally, three payments in cash to Brian Mulroney, all within 16 months. If no work had been done, why did he keep making payments throughout this period?
12:15 p.m.
As an Individual
The first payment was at Mirabel, and--I found this, by the way--all the meetings were arranged by Fred Doucet, not on my request. He was always asking, all through the December meetings. I found a note that I should call there and meet him, so we met at the Queen Elizabeth. But this was the first time after Kim Campbell did not win the election. So now I knew he had his problems and I had somehow a feeling--and I think I was pretty right--that he would be a pretty good lobbyist, as he is at the moment for many international companies, and we may be able to use him for something, so let's give him some briefs at the moment, and that's....
12:15 p.m.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
You are aware that during his testimony under oath, Mr. Mulroney alleged that he has never had any dealings with you.
“I never had dealings with that man”. It has echoes of a sentence we heard south of the border a few years ago.
Was Mr. Mulroney telling the truth when he said that he had never had any dealings with you?
12:15 p.m.
As an Individual
Sir, I was bothered with these questions about any dealings. You may recall that it went to the media that I was a witness at the MBB case, and there all these questions came up. I said yes, I had business dealings with him, or discussions. When I was asked what it was about, it was about pasta. But this was many years later, when I asked him to participate in these obesity problems and the pasta problems. So this is why I say Greg Alford knows this 100%. This had nothing to do with 1993, it had nothing to do with 1994, nothing to do with 1995; it started somehow in 1996 or 1997, or God knows when.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
I would like to ask you one last question, Herr Schreiber.
You said earlier that you gave some $30,000 to the brother of Jean Charest, the present premier of Quebec, for Jean Charest's leadership campaign.
To your knowledge, was Mr. Charest's name mentioned elsewhere in this file? Did other persons talked to you about him? You have just done something that could have far reaching implications, by asserting that you gave him $30,000 for his leadership campaign. Could you tell me whether his name was mentioned at other times during your transactions? Will his name come up somewhere in the 35,000 pages of documentation or in other testimonies?
12:20 p.m.
As an Individual
No, it has nothing to do with all this. These are spontaneous things. I must confess that when I learned that Monsieur Charest would go for the leadership, I thought it could be something good--something young, something fresh, something quite different for Canada.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Who approached you and asked you to give $30,000 to Jean Charest for his campaign?
12:20 p.m.
As an Individual
It was his brother. His brother at the time worked somehow with the government somewhere, but was also his fundraiser. I met him in the secretary's office for Elmer MacKay at the Confederation Building, and he approached me and asked me if I would contribute to the leadership convention for Jean Charest. I said, yes, I was pleased to do that. Then a few days later we met.
You have perhaps seen that when I was arrested, everybody was amazed that I had quite some cash in all different currencies in my purse. When you travel as I did--my worst year was 176 days in a plane--and you come back and forth to countries, you don't always go back to the bank; it costs you double when you need some money. You keep it. On top of this, you may come to a situation where you cannot use a credit card or cheques, so I wrote a cheque. I think I said to give--
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Mr. Chair, I'll be sharing my time with my colleague Mr. Tilson.
Mr. Schreiber, last Thursday I asked you about any correspondence you had with the Prime Minister's Office. You indicated you'd received a reply from one of the many letters you had written. I was wondering if the reply that you're referring to is in the package of documents that you have provided this committee and if you could identify that letter or that reply for us at this time.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
If you require to look at it, please, either we'll bring it back to you or you bring—
12:20 p.m.
As an Individual
My lawyer thinks it is somewhere in the documents, because I'm missing something.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Okay, if he knows where they are, please come here and look at it. We won't proceed until you have a chance to do that.
12:20 p.m.
As an Individual
Oh, yes, sure. It's in the file with the correspondence from the Prime Minister. The reply was on January 22, 2007; he answered my letter from January 16, 2007.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Can you give us the contents of the letter?
12:20 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes, you have it in that file. The contents of the letter are that the Prime Minister's Office received the letter and that they forwarded the letter, with the documents, to Minister of Justice Nicholson.
