Evidence of meeting #46 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 witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Ms. O'Sullivan, were you asked to take part in the process that the Conservative Party officials had come up with?
As an Individual
No, sir, and I would have refused to do so had I been contacted.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
No one went to see you. If I have understood things correctly, some candidates were targeted.
Mr. Goudie, when your agent was contacted, was it clearly explained to her how the money was going to be used?
As an Individual
He explained that the funding that was being transferred to us and then returned to the Conservative Party of Canada was to be used for television advertising.
I made a statement a few moments ago to this committee that my campaign manager asked if we could use it to purchase advertising in the riding. I should clarify that you cannot purchase television advertising in the riding of Labrador. You can purchase radio advertising, but not television advertising. So the money was automatically returned, as we were instructed to do, to the Conservative Party of Canada, with the caveat by Mr. Hudson that the local candidate--namely me, Joe Goudie--or at least the riding would be identified in national television advertising.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Ms. Fortier, you were only involved at the very beginning of the last campaign. I understand that you had been chosen as a candidate.
As an Individual
Yes, my investiture was in May 2005. As a result of these problems, the organizer, Michel Rivard, desperately wanted me to somehow get rid of Mr. Leone and that I should take his place to accept these fabricated expenses. I refused to do so. I did not believe that they would go ahead. I have nothing to hide; I am an honest person with integrity. We prepared the election returns correctly and honestly, and I wasn't going to inflate the election expenses in order to receive a "fat" reimbursement.
Mr. Pierre Coulombe told me that if I did not agree, then it would be too bad, but I would no longer be the candidate. I did not believe that it would happen, because my campaign photographs were ready, I had already reserved my truck and I was waiting for my election signs. It was the first week of the campaign. When I telephoned to find out about my signs, Mr. Paulin Grenier, a regional organizer, told me that I would no longer be conducting the campaign because I had been replaced. Imagine how that shattered my dreams! I had been crisscrossing the district for a year and a half, and it was the new candidate who would reap the benefits of my work. It had become very clear that La Mauricie had become very auspicious for the Conservatives.
In any event, I can look in the mirror and feel proud of myself.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Goudie, I just want to be clear.You first heard of this when you heard from some contact from...or read something in the CBC media. Is that where you first heard about this incident?
As an Individual
It's the first time that... I became aware—I think the date is here—in late March or early April of 2008 that a news report was carried in our province dealing with what they referred to as the “money in, money out”. But I also explained earlier—I don't think you were present, sir, when I made the explanation—that during the process of filing the election return undertaken after the election, my official agent, Mr. Barnes, brought to my attention a number of amounts of money that could not be claimed during or in the election return. One of those items was this amount. It was not singled out as anything dealing with “money in, money out”. We hadn't heard the term at that time, but we were told by Elections Canada that we could not claim that particular amount.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Did any official or anybody from Elections Canada ever contact you about this issue or, to use your words, “this incident”?
Conservative
As an Individual
Yes. Well, I didn't read it in a newspaper; it was carried on CBC television at home.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Yes.
My question to you is, as a candidate, is it important that the national leader and the national party do well?
As an Individual
Of course. In any campaign I've been involved in—and this was number five, in 2006—it is very important that the leader and the party do well.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
You won't do well, probably, if your leader isn't going to do well, or your chances--
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Yes.
Do you think that the two campaigns are in a way connected?
As an Individual
They're connected in the sense that they're at least supposed to share a common identity and a common campaign format and a common objective of forming a government following the election, yes.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
So you're going to obviously speak well of the party you're representing, and hopefully, if the leader of that party comes to your riding, that leader is going to speak well of you.
As an Individual
That would certainly be the hope and would have been my experience in the past, yes.
