Evidence of meeting #101 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A video is available from Parliament.
10:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
I don't know if it's correct or not. They work with a number of different contractors.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Cambridge Analytica says, “Aggregate IQ was our exclusive digital and data-engineering partner”. So, is AIQ the exclusive data and engineering partner of Cambridge Analytica?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
No. Okay.
Chris Vickery says that AIQ is a data digital development team for SCL Canada and Cambridge Analytica. Mr. Massingham, is that true?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay.
Christopher Wylie says that you are a “franchise” operation of Cambridge Analytica and SCL. Is that true?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay.
Mr. Wylie says that when he was appointed at Cambridge Analytica, he said they needed a Canadian office. He went to Alexander Nix and said there were a couple of Canadians he wanted to hire. And then he said that the group was set up as SCL Canada, but they had a Canadian entity and that legal name was AggregateIQ. Is that correct?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
He said one of the reasons that they set this up was that it was very useful to keep the company at arm's length. It was useful, he said, particularly for American projects where you need different entities to work on campaigns and pacts in various other entities where you cannot necessarily coordinate, but if you have different companies, the paperwork looks appropriate, the paperwork compliance...even if behind the scenes you're talking back and forth and using the same underlying technology. Is that correct?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
The question is this. He said that they were set up to keep you at arm's length because it was useful in order to make sure that the paperwork was compliant particularly with American projects.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay. Up until March 2017, SCL had a phone that went directly to you, Mr. Massingham, as their head of SCL Canada. Is that correct?
10:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
It's come to my knowledge that was the case.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
How do you get a phone from a U.K. office that goes directly to you? Did the phone ever ring?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
It was your personal phone. So SCL had that. Christopher Wylie also testified that you guys have been very careful about being technically precise but that you were using “weasel words”. Would that be correct?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
No, you wouldn't.
I guess what I'm thinking here is that everyone else must be involved in an amazing conspiracy against you, Mr. Massingham. They're accusing you of being a part of Cambridge Analytica, which you said you didn't know existed until during the Nigeria campaign. Mr. Wylie said he helped set you up, which you said isn't true. SCL Canada lists you as their head of Canada services, which you say is not true. You had a phone that went directly to you.
Why is everybody against you, Mr. Massingham?
10:05 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
I'm not sure. I can only speak to the work that we do at AggregateIQ and that Jeff and I have done together.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
That takes me back to the question of the Brexit campaign. There's a spectacular success story of this unknown company above an optometrist shop in Victoria that got all those campaigns, all that money, and coordinated it. They said you were set up as a proxy money laundering campaign. Is that true, Mr. Massingham?
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
You know, the great thing about being in Parliament, when you speak at our committee, is parliamentary privilege. You can't be sued for what you say, Mr. Massingham. They can't use it against you in court. So I'm not sure why you expect us to believe that all these people are making stuff up about you when you could just explain to us why you were set up with SCL and what your direct role is with SCL and Cambridge Analytica. The idea that this is all a series of isolated companies that had nothing to do with each other, didn't know each other, just happened to be working on all the same projects.... You are listed as SCL Canada. Why don't you just tell us what you're covering up for SCL Canada, Mr. Massingham, and why are you taking the fall for these guys?