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.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You're welcome, Mr. Martelli. Thank you for having answered our questions.
I'd like to follow up in English, if I may, on questions that my colleague Mr. Proulx and my colleague Madame Lavallée asked you.
You said that Benoît Larocque from the Conservative Party headquarters contacted you. Can you describe again what that conversation was like?
2:55 p.m.
As an Individual
He called me up one afternoon and said, “Listen, Mr. Martelli, is it okay if we deposit $14,000 in your account?”
Coming back to my story, I asked Benoît what this $14,000 was. “Oh, nothing. Listen, I asked another nine ridings, and you would be the tenth one if you accepted. It's up to you to accept or not.”
As I was saying before, I asked Benoît if there was any comeback to this. He said, “Oh, everything's legit, nothing to worry.” So I told him, “Okay, go ahead with it if there's nothing to worry.”
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Mr. Martelli, in that conversation, were you told that it was for regional media advertising?
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
So to your knowledge, none of that money that was transferred in and out was actually spent on radio ads that may have used your name, or television ads or print ads.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
So you were given no explanation as to what that money should be used for.
3 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Do you think, Mr. Martelli, that the money was intended to in fact add other expenses to your campaign report? Did they try to add, for example, other office expenses or other campaign expenses, separate from advertising, to your report?
3 p.m.
As an Individual
None at all, sir, because the only budget I had from the Conservative Party, which they gave us, was only $1,000, and that's what I ran on.
3 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
In your view, then, once Mr. Larocque had told you that he was transferring the money, you or your official agent had absolutely no means of knowing where that money would be spent or what it would be used for.
3 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Madame Lavallée asked you this in French, and I'm wondering if I could ask you the same question again in English.
In the Elections Canada documents that identified 67 Conservative candidates who participated in the in-and-out scheme, your name is not there. Why do you suppose Elections Canada hasn't put you on that list? Do you suspect that there are other Conservative candidates, some of whom you may know, who in fact have participated in this kind of transaction?
3 p.m.
As an Individual
Sir, to tell you the truth, when I was interviewed last year by le quotidien Le Devoir, they said, “Mr. Martelli, your name's not on the list.” Isn't that nice? I'm not on the list. Why is Elections Canada asking me so many questions?
So I really don't know. That you'd have to ask these gentlemen. And even when we did ask Ms. O'Grady about the situation, she pretended not to worry about it. It was just Elections Canada trying to get on their case.
3 p.m.
Liberal
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Would that have been the same kind of conversation you may have had with Mr. Rivard when Mr. Rivard called you and suggested that you not answer questions?
3 p.m.
As an Individual
When Mr. Rivard called me, sir, as I said, I really didn't want anything more to do with this party, because I really felt insulted and I felt like saying, “Now you're in deep waters, fix it up yourself.” Oh, they were nice. They wanted to hire a lawyer to protect us. I said, “Michel, is this another scheme so you can send me the bill at the end of the month and say that this is the part that's costing me for being protected from you guys? No, thank you.”
3 p.m.
Liberal
August 11th, 2008 / 3 p.m.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Just very quickly.... I really appreciate the candour with which you've brought forward your experience, Mr. Martelli.
So at any point in time did you, your official agent, or your campaign manager have any control over that $14,000?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
And again, how was that accounted for in your return when you signed off on it with your official agent?
3 p.m.
As an Individual
I know what happened. My agent received the document from the party. They told him to just sign it and fax it to them as soon as possible. So that's what he did. He, also being new to this experience, just signed and sent it to them. Then when he saw the bank reports, he said, “Listen, there is $14,000 in and $14,000 out. What is this money?” I said, “Brian, this is the in-and-out that they told us about.”
