Evidence of meeting #7 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 letter.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
As an Individual
Britan stands for Brian Mulroney and the Cape Breton Bear Head project.
Conservative
As an Individual
I think it must have been a couple of weeks after my meeting with Mr. Mulroney at Harrington Lake, when I had identified with the banker in Zurich what money was available in Frankfurt, and I said “Okay, open a Britan account and transfer it there.” I wasn't even there.
Conservative
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Why did you close it, and where did the $200,000 go?
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Why did you close the bank account, and where did the $200,000--plus the interest, I suppose--go?
As an Individual
The $200,000 I took back and sent it to another account of mine, because it was my money.
December 6th, 2007 / 11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Well, I'd suggest that Canadians would wonder about the cash and would think that the cash was used to avoid scrutiny, to avoid a paper trail.
Were you or Mr. Mulroney trying to avoid scrutiny by dealing in cash?
Liberal
As an Individual
No, not from my side.
You should understand something, sir. When I was arrested, everybody reported about my little bag and how much money I had. I always travelled with a substantial amount of cash. The reason is this. In Europe, and in my life, it was very common, if you go to a store and you buy something, you don't want everybody to know what you are doing. Secondly, if you go to countries where you have no credit cards or where you have not enough money all the time.... So I take it in cash.
On top of that, if you don't pay with a credit card, you get a much better price. I'm a businessman. If you bargain with cash, you get much better conditions.
It was the same with Mr. Charest's donation. I had it in my bag. I took it out and gave it to him.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome again, Mr. Schreiber.
Mr. Schreiber, today you said that when Mr. Peter MacKay worked at Thyssen he was being prepared for a future job at Bear Head. Did you help Mr. Peter MacKay get this job, through Mr. Elmer MacKay?
As an Individual
No. Mr. Elmer MacKay had nothing to do with it. It had to do with a Thyssen executive. His son was there, and we thought about it. It was time, because we were on our way to establishing these plans out there, and we had reason to believe that the Canadian government sent Sinclair Stevens out with the ambassadors to meet all the politicians in Germany, and this was all nonsense.
I mean, it was very clear: heavy water plant down, gulf refinery down. Jobs were needed. So then we would need somebody we would start with. We'll get Edmond Chiasson, a lawyer, from the office of Gerald Doucet, who did all the corporate business for Thyssen Bear Head Industries--he incorporated the company, I would think. And we thought, okay, we need somebody there from Nova Scotia, and in the future we should recruit people.
Peter MacKay, in my expectation, a young guy, a lawyer from Nova Scotia, whose father is my friend—and everybody likes Elmer MacKay down there, and you may know that; he's a great guy.
So let him go there and let the Thyssen people see whether he has the capability and whether he understands what's going on.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Could you also tell us what was Peter MacKay's role to be in the Bear Head project?
As an Individual
In the Bear Head project, at the time when I was working here, nothing. He was in Germany. He had nothing to do with it. It was his father. His father was the minister of ACOA.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Schreiber, I'm going to go back to the letter you wrote on May 8, 2007. Do you have a copy?
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Okay. Thank you.
In reference to this letter, you wrote to Mr. Mulroney on May 8, 2007, which was included in our package, and you tabled it on Tuesday. I have a copy, and you are reading from the same copy now. In this letter you state that you are prepared to disclose that Prime Minister Mulroney asked you, through his lawyer, to commit perjury to protect him. Did this happen in 1999, yes or no?
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Thank you.
I'm going to also give you another letter that is dated January 26, 2000. I don't know if you have it--January 26, 2000.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
I'm going to give you a copy, Mr. Schreiber.
Do you have that, Mr. Schreiber?
