Evidence of meeting #18 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.
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
It was a big surprise for both my wife and me when he and Fred Doucet walked into the restaurant. That's all I know.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
We heard testimony from Mr. Doucet that that was the purpose of their visit to New York.
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
That may have been their purpose, but it was completely unbeknownst to us.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
So it was a casual luncheon you were having with the Schreibers and not a planned reception?
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
Thank you.
Subsequent to your e-mail, Mr. Schreiber did draft and sign a letter and presented that to Mr. Mulroney. Do you know what the purpose of that letter was for Mr. Mulroney?
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Not to my recollection. The only thing I can remember was that I happened to see in The Globe and Mail some time later that a columnist, Margaret Wente, referred to this letter of apology.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
We heard from Mr. Schreiber that he'd gotten the report back from the meeting between Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Harper, that Mr. Harper had suggested to Mr. Mulroney that they would be able to do the right thing, that things would be okay. You weren't part of that communications loop? You weren't the link between Mulroney and Schreiber at that time?
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
I'm completely amazed if that interpretation has come out. Firstly, I cannot imagine Mr. Mulroney--well, either one of them--or myself intervening in a matter that's before the courts, particularly something as high-profile as Mr. Schreiber's extradition proceedings.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
You're suggesting extradition hearings, but there were also some suggestions by Mr. Schreiber that what he was asking for was a full public inquiry in the matter. It could have been either of those things that would have been seen as being helpful or doing the right thing. We haven't been able to establish what exactly that right thing was.
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
It's not much wonder, because there's been so much Sturm und Drang about this that I cannot, based on all my many tangled conversations, provide you with any definitive direction on this. All I know is that I think it was probably imprudent for my friend Mr. Schreiber to go off on this political route, trying to contact ministers and so on, instead of sticking strictly to the legal system. But that is something he decided to do, and he may be right.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS
You know, as we do now from media, that when the agreement was signed for the memorandum of understanding for the Thyssen project at Bear Head and the Government of Canada and the Government of Nova Scotia--Nova Scotia first, Government of Canada later--$4 million in success fees was generated. And you heard later that Mr. Mulroney had received some funds from that, either $225,000 or $300,000, depending on whose word you accept, and Mr. Mulroney suggests that he was working internationally for Thyssen while Mr. Schreiber is suggesting it was Montreal east then. And you have maintained a close friendship with both of these gentlemen. Were you aware that Mr. Mulroney was working internationally, promoting the Thyssen product?
3:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Mr. Thibault, the only thing I can recall that would involve any international effort--and I want to tell you my recollection is hazy--is that it seems to me that Mr. Mulroney tried to contact Mr. Cohon, who was an American executive, I believe with McDonald's, pursuant to Mr. Schreiber's past adventures. I have no idea what Mr. Mulroney did internationally or domestically. And I also have to tell you I have no idea about where the funds Mr. Schreiber paid to Mr. Mulroney came from. I know I may sound naive, but I didn't even realize that there was a success fee that was paid pursuant to the signing of the understanding, as you call it, the memorandum of understanding, until this came out at a bail hearing, the first bail hearing in Toronto, where I attended to go on Mr. Schreiber's bail.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Mr. MacKay. I'm pleased to have you appear before the committee. It is not easy communicating by video conference, and it may be even more difficult if someone is speaking a different language.
Is the interpretation coming through clearly?
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Very good, thank you.
I would like to go back to the letter you wrote for Mr. Schreiber and that he sent to Mr. Mulroney. First of all, you say that relations between Mulroney and Mr. Schreiber were not very good. Is that correct?
3:40 p.m.
As an Individual
Madam Lavallée, if I may, just so we don't get off on the wrong track, I did not write the letter. I provided a comparatively short memo, a suggested letter, which Mr. Schreiber apparently incorporated into a much longer letter that he wrote and signed.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
What were your objectives when you wrote that letter? Why did you write those paragraphs?
3:40 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, Madam Lavallée, I'll try to be brief, but I have to tell you that for a long, long time I had almost incessant telephone calls from both these men, both my friends, not wanting to talk about sports or business or public affairs, but only to complain about each other. Each one would ask, “What's the other doing? What's he thinking? What's he saying?”
Finally, I got to the point where I wanted to see this thing come to an end one way or the other--legal affairs, personal affairs. I thought the least I could do, as a friend, for both of them was to suggest the obvious thing: how about an apology?
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
If I understand correctly, you acted as a mediator, particularly after the Fifth Estate program. Is that right?
