Evidence of meeting #17 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 money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
No. On a slightly different topic, but associated with him, I met a couple of RCMP officers when there was a code of conduct inquiry into Mr. Fiegenwald's actions.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay, but in terms of anything relating to Airbus, to scandals outside the RCMP, it was only with Mr. Fiegenwald?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
No, he usually had another officer with him. They travelled in a team to see all of us. And I don't remember the name of the man who was with him.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay, so there were just the two of them.
I want to know your motivation behind it. Why did you decide to give information to the RCMP?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I wanted information from the RCMP. When you're a reporter and you think they have the story, you go to where the story is. He was the media spokesperson, and we all hassled him endlessly. The information I gave him was public information.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So it was a give and take: you give me information, I'll give you information.
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
That's an interesting thing you've raised. That was suggested to me by the RCMP, and I told them I didn't work that way. There was no quid for my quid pro quo here.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So you were simply volunteering the information, with nothing in return.
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, I was interviewing them too. It worked both ways. But the thing is that what I volunteered for them was newspaper stories, clippings.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay.
What specific evidence of wrongdoing did you provide to the RCMP?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I don't think I provided them with any evidence of wrongdoing.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
What information did you provide to them?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, it was 1995, a long time ago. When they came to see me, I didn't have any files at all. I didn't even have any clippings. I'd given them to another reporter who was working on the story because I was working on something else.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
But what did you tell them? You had four or five, maybe six meetings. How long were those meetings?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I think they probably lasted anywhere from half an hour to an hour.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay, so for maybe four to six hours you spoke with them. What did you tell them?
4:05 p.m.
As an Individual
I told them that Alberta Report magazine had an interesting story. I've forgotten the name of the reporter who did it, but he had a very interesting story about all the companies in Alberta Mr. Schreiber ran for Franz Josef Strauss, and I think I probably said he might want to look at those. That would be one thing we talked about briefly. That's what I'm telling you, Mr. Hiebert, that this was on the public record; it was in a magazine.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
I'm trying to understand what information you provided to the RCMP. Besides the Alberta companies, what else did you tell them during those meetings?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I think I gave them newspaper clips from German newspapers, because I was following this case.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Did you have any second-hand information outside the media, outside Alberta Report or newspaper sources?
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So you had no information outside of what was publicly available?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I was pretty careful about this. I was taking direction from my editors and my lawyer. This wasn't something that was careless on my part.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Again, you had no information you shared with the RCMP that was outside what was publicly available?
4:10 p.m.
As an Individual
Not that I remember. Remember, it was a long time ago, and I haven't thought about it that much. No, not that I remember.