Evidence of meeting #33 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was carroll.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will ask the question one more time, and if you are not able to answer it, then I think you need to tell us that clearly.
All I'm asking is who else in the Liberal leader's office, the research bureau, the caucus, or any Liberal MP's office would you think has seen a copy of these documents?
As an Individual
Mr. Chair, anybody who has ever set foot in our office has the potential of looking at these documents.
I find the question pretty absurd, and I thank you for bringing up House of Commons Procedure and Practice. There is another section that you didn't mention, Mr. Chair, but I'll just take the opportunity—and I've highlighted this part—to do so. It's with regard to the relevance of questions. There is a general requirement of relevance to the issue before the committee.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Mr. Carroll. I do think the chair has read the regulations.
I have another question for you.
It's been several weeks since you resigned from the Liberal research bureau. During that time, have you been questioned about your role in these tweeting extracts by anyone employed by the Liberal Research Bureau or the Liberal leader's office?
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
No one at all has questioned you regarding the situation that you found yourself to be in.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
You've been identified as the individual responsible for the Vikileaks Twitter account. You told us about the password, saying that you thought others could have guessed what the password was.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Do you know whether anyone besides you knew that password or had log-in access to the account?
As an Individual
No. I do know that nobody was able to guess it because there are access logs. To me, it was a pretty easy one: strong stable national majority Conservative government, but no one seemed to guess it.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Ms. Davidson, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but your time is up.
The first round of questions is now finished. Since Mr. Carroll said that he would like to take breaks, I will ask him if that is still the case.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Now that the 10-minute break is over, Ms. Borg has the floor for the five-minute question and answer round.
NDP
Charmaine Borg NDP Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to begin by saying that, as my colleague pointed out, I am against the fact that we are studying this matter. We are using this committee, which is supposed to be considering issues that are useful to Canadian society, to study a partisan matter. I think this is another example of the deplorable tactics that the Conservatives have been using.
I would also like to correct something the parliamentary secretary said. He suggested that the NDP might have played a role in this matter, since we had sent someone to consult documents in Winnipeg. I would just like to say that we were blamed in this matter for no reason.
Furthermore, when I asked a question of the Minister of Public Safety on Bill C-30—I wanted information for Canadians—I was personally accused by the Minister of Foreign Affairs for being partly responsible for or for playing a role in that situation.
Mr. Carroll, I would like to ask you whether the NDP was involved in the matter.
NDP
Charmaine Borg NDP Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Thank you. I hope that clarifies things for everyone.
I would like to continue on the topic of having the committee study this matter. It's a perfect example of the political and childish games that are being played in this Parliament. Instead of studying real issues and using this time in committee to consider true parliamentary matters, we are playing childish political games. I hope the government members realize this.
I would like to ask Mr. Carroll another question. I was personally very disappointed in the response provided by the Minister of Public Safety with respect to Bill C-30. I think that this will pose serious problems. It may create serious problems with respect to privacy.
Mr. Carroll, do you think that, with Vikileaks, the focus of the debate was diverted from the real issue, which was Bill C-30 and not Vikileaks?
As an Individual
Once again, thank you for your question.
I will answer in English, if I may.
I understand the question to be whether Vikileaks potentially distracted attention from the real issues and real dangers of Bill C-30.
I would say no. The reason I would say no is that I did an analysis of media mentions over the past two years, using key words such as “lawful access” and a number of the bills that had previously been introduced along these lines, to get a full picture of how much was being driven in the media by this exact issue.
When it came to Vikileaks, I'm not making a total suggestion that it had a bigger impact than it might have, but I believe that it helped draw attention to the bill and some of the more superficial aspects of the bill, such as privacy and having the government able to access.... They're not superficial in the sense that they're not important. There's, of course, a lot more substance to the bill. It was just to give people an idea of what the bill was about. I think that, through that, it drove people to investigate a little bit further, and by the end of that week, a lot of people were talking about the bill.
NDP
Charmaine Borg NDP Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Thank you for your answer.
However, I would like to emphasize that, rather than talking about the privacy implications of Bill C-30 today in a committee that specifically studies the right to privacy, we are studying the Vikileaks matter. Along those same lines, I have another question for Mr. Carroll.
You shut down the Vikileaks account and then, a week later, you revealed that you were the one behind the account. What happened during that week?
As an Individual
Thank you very much.
The simple answer was that the Speaker's investigation took place—and I've made comments on how I feel about that Speaker's investigation and the basis on which it was conducted—and my computer was the one that they discovered.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you. Your time is up.
Mr. Calkins now has the floor for five minutes.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Carroll, for coming today.
I've heard a few contradictions in your testimony and I just want to clarify a few things.
You were the caucus resources manager. Do I have that right? Was that your title that you gave to us?
As an Individual
The specific title was adviser caucus relations or caucus services.