Information & Ethics Committee on Dec. 4th, 2007

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

There is a letter. The date is okay. You have the file with the letters I have sent to Mr. Harper. I unfortunately don't have it. So if you could just open it--or is it in my affidavit? Hang on.

The letter reads:

Dear Prime Minister:

Today I take the liberty to send you copies of my letter January 23, 2007 to The Hon. Robert D. Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General and my letter January 24, 2006 to The Hon. Stockwell B. Day, Minister of Public Safety for your information.

The news from today proves again who controls the department of Justice and confirms my concerns. The inescapable conclusion is that your political enemies are undermining your government's intention to clean up how the nation is governed.

I don't think that you are interested in my advice but I can tell you that I have spent at least 45 years of my life with international Conservative Politics and tried to support Conservative causes where-ever support was needed. This is the main reason of my troubles, since no good deed goes unpunished.

I was a close witness to the painful decline of the Conservative Government of Brian Mulroney and I'm a pretty good observer with an impressive memory.

I learnt that the formula: “Wash me but don't make me wet” will not work!

Dear Prime Minister, in my opinion you need the strong and permanent--

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Order.

I apologize, Mr. Schreiber.

Our proceedings are broadcast in both official languages, and there are some wonderful people in the room who are translating everything you're saying, but the velocity of your information is causing them some difficulty, and I'd ask you to please take the time to read it carefully. There's no hurry. I want to give you the time to do this. I'm going to give Mr. Dhaliwal one more minute after you finish responding to his previous question so that everybody is feeling good, especially those ladies.

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

I'm sorry, but I thought I should save time with my speed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

I understand, but I'm taking care of these people back here.

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

I am continuing:

Dear Prime Minister, in my opinion you need the strong and permanent support from Canadian voters to ensure your success through their confidence.

Only an independent public inquiry, concerning the “Political Justice Scandal” and the “Airbus” affair, can achieve the clean up in Ottawa which you have promised to your voters.

I wish you health and fortune.

Yours sincerely,

Karlheinz Schreiber.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Schreiber, did you get any reply to that letter from the Prime Minister?

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

No.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Have you written any other letters to members of the current Harper government?

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

Yes.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Did you provide us those letters in the package that you submitted today?

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

I take it that they are in the file, because I strongly believe--this is at least my recollection, because this is one of the points where I couldn't go home and check everything carefully--that I have sent a copy of each letter I have sent, for example, to Peter MacKay, to Mr. Sorenson, to Stockwell Day, to Mr. Dion, and I sent always a copy to the Prime Minister to make sure that he understands what I'm doing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.

We're going to move to Mr. Del Mastro, please.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Tilson just wanted to finish off a question that he had.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

This date that you gave us, Mr. Schreiber--June 23, 1993--troubles me somewhat, because that isn't what you told a court of law in the past. It isn't what you told William Kaplan, who's the author of A Secret Trial.

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

Again, what are you saying?

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

That isn't what you said then. You said the story begins in late June 1993, long after Mr. Mulroney stepped down as Prime Minister.

In an action of R v. MBB Helicopter et al., the transcript is quite clear. You said the following: you hired Mr. Mulroney after Mr. Mulroney left office and stepped down as Prime Minister. And secondly, you said that you never met Mr. Mulroney in private while he was Prime Minister.

So you've made two conflicting statements, one in a court of law and a book, and one today. Which is it?

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

No, for me it's not conflicting. I think I explained it today. This is my understanding. When I met with Mr. Mulroney, we agreed to work together and that I would go to check--

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Sir. Sir, I'm--

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Mr. Tilson, order, please. Order. You posed a question to Mr.--

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Well, he's ranting. He's going off on another tangent.

My question, Mr. Chairman--

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Order, please.

Mr. Tilson, with respect to the witness, you did pose a question. There's a conflict. He wants to answer. I'll give you time to go further. I'll give you latitude on this line of questioning, but I do want to hear from Mr. Schreiber until he's answered the question you posed to the best of his ability.

Please proceed, Mr. Schreiber.

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

At the meeting at Harrington Lake--and I repeat this on and on--we agreed to work together when he was no longer the Prime Minister, when he was back in office, and doing what he was supposed to do, to look after the Bear Head project, when Ms. Campbell had won the election. So that means between Harrington Lake and then, nothing would take place.

The other thing was that I told him I would have to check whether funds were available, and I did. And when we met at Mirabel, I told him, yes, $500,000 is available.

What was the third question you asked?

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Okay. Now, let's stop it there.

I want to go back to Mr. Tilson, and he's going to come back to you, maybe with a supplementary on the same lines.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

My question was, sir, you made a statement today that is contradictory to what you said in a court of law and a book--quite different statements. You're saying today that this agreement, this deal, was worked up while he was Prime Minister. In a court of law, under oath, sir--the one I just quoted to you--and in a book, you said no, it was after that. It was after he left office.

My question is very simple. Was it while he was Prime Minister or after he was Prime Minister?

[Karlheinz Schreiber]

I still am telling you that we agreed to work together, and then whatever comes up, we do it and I look for the funds. So I don't know what understanding...we have a different understanding of business. I cannot see a contradiction.