Evidence of meeting #15 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.
As an Individual
I suppose the partners would. Mr. Moores is deceased, as I hope you're aware. It was a matter for the partners. Mr. Ouellet is also deceased.
Liberal
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Alford.
Maybe I missed what you said, but you seemed to indicate--or at least it's what I heard--that GCI was not involved with the Airbus deal. Did I hear correctly? Is that true?
As an Individual
That's right. In our assessment, there was no activity of the federal government in the procurement. The procurement by Air Canada had no policy; it had no industrial policy initiatives that caused a bidder to offer manufacturing in regions of Canada the way a crown project or a defence project did. There was really no file. We would have been pleased to have them as a client, but they were not a GCI file.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
When you listened to other witnesses before this committee, or read the press on what they said, were you concerned that we were getting wrong information?
As an Individual
I'm sorry, I don't know how to respond to that. Anybody from GCI always would have told you if Airbus was a client of GCI or not. I guess maybe it took you a while to ask someone from GCI whether they were a client.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
Mr. Schreiber talks about as much as $20 million that disappeared along the way somewhere, and it did appear that GCI.... In fact, when we asked Mr. Schreiber this, he said something to the effect that “I don't know who all the partners were”.
You mentioned several of the partners. Who were the other partners that you worked with when you were employed by GCI?
As an Individual
There were three partners in GCI. Mr. Moores and Mr. Doucet were the founders. The third partner, who joined about a year later, was Gary Ouellet.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
You also spoke in terms of your work with Bear Head. You seemed to be getting your orders from Europe. Mr. Mulroney seemed to indicate that he was getting money from Mr. Schreiber to do something similar to what you were doing.
Would your European contacts have notified you that there were more people than your consulting group working on this, that the former Prime Minister of Canada had been paid $300,000 by Mr. Schreiber to do a similar activity to what you were doing? Were you at cross purposes? Did you know that Mr. Mulroney was also a lobbyist for the project?
As an Individual
To my knowledge, I don't know if Mr. Mulroney had the involvement in the Canadian project. I was deeply involved in the Canadian project. I did not have responsibility for international projects. Mr. Schreiber of course, as our chairman, had the freedom to proceed as he wished in international areas.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
With the project you were putting forward for Bear Head...the M113s were a competitor to that project. You had hoped to overcome--
As an Individual
No. In fact, I would suggest that the M113s were approaching 40 years--they'd now be 50 years old in design--and so it was that aging fleet within the Canadian army, and all armies, which were many--numerous U.S., European armies--that was the opportunity within the market to replace those armoured personnel vehicles.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
And you were being told by your Canadian armed forces here that they were satisfied with the refitting that was being done in Montreal and other locations, that rather than buying new ones they were refitting the M113s, which they've done. Is that not correct, Mr. Alford?
As an Individual
The Canadian Department of National Defence has done a variety of things in the vehicle area. I think they did try some life extension, and they probably still have in service M113s. As a vehicle gets old, it becomes very difficult to keep it running. It has a limited weight capacity. The difficulty with M113s was their ability to carry the necessary armour that was desired to protect the soldiers.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
You worked closely with Mr. Schreiber, who headed up your company. According to your resumé, you worked with him several times and for several companies. You said that you knew about all of the people who worked as lobbyists on the Bear Head project. Is that correct?
As an Individual
I was aware of everyone involved in the Canadian project. If there were people involved in international projects, I would not necessarily be aware of that--
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
In that case, Mr. Alford, can you explain why, in a letter dated February 3 and made public last week, Mr. Schreiber denied the fact that Mr. Mulroney worked internationally and claimed that he worked as a lobbyist in Canada?
Did that take your breath away, or just your voice?
