Information & Ethics Committee on Feb. 14th, 2008

[Stevie Cameron]

You have a treat ahead of you.

I believe I said—probably in this one—that the letter was leaked, I understand, by Mr. Mulroney's team to Philip Mathias.

I had hoped to get a copy of the letter. I had hoped to break the story for Maclean's. I worked very, very hard. I have vivid memories of meetings in the Maclean's boardroom with the lawyers, and the editor, Bob Lewis, and the other people there saying, “Go phone Mr. Fiegenwald again and ask him if he'll confirm.”

The story had already broken. You know that the story had broken in Berne, Switzerland, already. A Swiss reporter had the story. But the Canadians were all terrified to print it unless we could get it proved here.

That Mr. Mulroney was under investigation was the story. There was nothing more.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Do you have any evidence of who on...? You said that Brian Mulroney's “team” leaked the letter. Do you have any evidence of that?

[Stevie Cameron]

Mr. Lavoie did speak to a public relations meeting, and he talked about the strategies of handling difficult issues, and bad news and so on. His strategy is always to get out ahead of the story--which I think is probably a tried and true PR strategy. I don't know.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

So you have evidence of these meetings.

[Stevie Cameron]

Well, he did give a speech about this, and I did report on this.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Did you ever receive a copy of the letter of request?

[Stevie Cameron]

No.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Well, I understand that Mr. Fiegenwald was subsequently fired for sharing a copy of the letter of request with you.

[Stevie Cameron]

That's not true.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Why was he fired?

[Stevie Cameron]

I don't know that he was fired.

I certainly think it was uncomfortable for him to stay there, but he was put through two code of conduct inquiries and was cleared both times.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

And did you have anything to do with those code of conduct inquiries?

[Stevie Cameron]

Yes, sir, I did. When you asked me how often I had seen the RCMP and I said that I'd seen Mr. Fiegenwald with another officer a few times, the other two times were with the people who were conducting code of conduct inquiries into him—and I have written about this.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Did his breach of the code of conduct have anything to do with his interactions with you?

[Stevie Cameron]

No....

Well, he felt he had been indiscreet with me. He wasn't indiscreet enough, I fear. If he had been a bit more indiscreet, I would have had the story and Philip Mathias wouldn't. But I didn't have enough to publish.

Mr. Fiegenwald is a decent, honest man, and I think he felt he'd been indiscreet, but the editors at Maclean's will tell you that it wasn't enough for us, that we could publish it. He was investigated in two code of conduct inquiries. I spoke to the RCMP each time, with my lawyer present, and they determined he had not given me anything for which he could be dismissed or disciplined.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you kindly.

We move now to Mr. Ménard, s'il vous plaît.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Cameron, have you spoken to Mr. Martin since he testified here?

[Stevie Cameron]

No, Monsieur Ménard, I haven't spoken to him.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

I know that, when they do investigative journalism, a number of journalists record their conversations to ensure that the people who give them information don't contradict it later.

Did you do that in the case of certain persons whom you questioned?

[Stevie Cameron]

I did record every interview that they.... I asked everybody if we could record them. In Mr. Martin's case, he was so afraid that he didn't want to do it. So I double-teamed the interview with my research associate, Rod Macdonell, so that the two of us interviewed him and both took notes. I tried to do that on occasions like that. As you know, because I posted it on my blog, Rod also came with me to interview David Angus, and we both taped that. Mr. Angus taped it and had a lawyer present.

Rod Macdonell also has a law degree, and he taught media law at Concordia. I knew he would be a good person to help me with the interview with François Martin, who was not willing to be taped.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

So it was Rod Macdonell who was with you when you questioned Mr. Martin?

[Stevie Cameron]

Yes, it was, sir.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

He himself took notes?

[Stevie Cameron]

Yes, he did.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Did you take those notes in front of Mr. Martin?