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.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Thank you, Madam Redman, but that is not a point of order.
I don't want you to think you have a perfect record.
The time has elapsed for Mr. Del Mastro. We'll now go to Mr. Nadeau, please.
3:05 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Martelli, there's no point in getting upset about the people from the party in power. You need to know that for seven months, in the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, they put a spanner in the works to make sure that you would be unable to talk about your circumstances before parliamentarians. That is why the matter ended up with the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. Moreover, the former Chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Mr. Goodyear, is here. You get the idea about their strategy for preventing things from moving forward, and for putting a spanner in the works.
The transfer of invoices is the big problem. That is entirely what this is about. You are right: 15 political parties ran candidates in the last election and only one of them is being investigated by Elections Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada. You are completely right. When it goes to siphon off from elsewhere... Even Mr. Del Mastro's lie when he said that you had not received 10% of the votes, shows how they operate, which is to draw attention elsewhere.
I would like to know whether, at one time or another, people from the Conservative Party required you to get involved in the infamous $14,000 scheme?
3:10 p.m.
As an Individual
How could I say that? They didn't really exert any pressure. All they told me was that it was trivial and that the others were doing it. As I said, we were new to this.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
I think that you already replied to this question, but I wanted to make sure. Did they tell you what the $14,000 would be used for?
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Not at all; okay.
Carole, would you like to continue? I will now give the floor to Ms. Lavallée.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I only want to understand exactly what happened.
Unless there has been a mistake, the return you filed with the Chief Electoral Officer mentioned that you had spent $15,000, $1,000 of real expenses and $14,000 that were in your account at a certain point.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
And Mr. Michel Rivard is the person who came and prepared the return?
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
He had you sign it and he found the appropriate expenses. Is that right?
August 11th, 2008 / 3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Probably.
After that, you filed a return with Elections Canada in which you reported having spent $15,000, when in fact you had only spent $1,000.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
On the basis of this return, the Chief Electoral Officer reimbursed $8,000 of taxpayers' money.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
And the $8,000 did not go into your account, but into the account of the National Conservative Party.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
That means that through a simple 24-hour in-and-out from your account by Michel Rivard, the Conservative Party added $8,000 to its nest egg, to its powerful war chest. That's what it means.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
So this is different from what we saw before. Thus far, what we saw was advertising expenses being "worked". However in this instance, the expenses are something we don't really know anything about.
You are not on the Chief Electoral Officer's list. So what is involved is another system to enable the Conservative Party to make more money through reimbursements from the Chief Electoral Officer from taxpayers' money.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
That is how I understand it.
What do you think about it?
3:10 p.m.
As an Individual
I find it fairly unpleasant for a party, as I was saying just now, in which we had confidence. I can see that it used people for its own needs, and then booted us out. I find that truly disagreeable.
3:10 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Do you have any idea of what the $14,000 was used for?