Evidence of meeting #113 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 know.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:15 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
When Mr. Grimes wrote to the U.K. Information Commissioner, saying what he got for £625,000 and 10 days of work from you, he said that you guys collected 1,000 phone numbers for him, collected 1,164 emails, and placed a few ads.
It sounds like you guys were extremely overpaid, don't you think?
9:15 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
No. We placed—I don't have the exact numbers, but it was approximately.... There were more than 150 million impressions. There were 800,000 clicks. There were a number of measures of what we provided, and we provided a full report to them about that at the end.
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
That's funny. Why would Grimes say it was merely 1,164 email addresses? The question here is how this group that did not exist before came into £625,000 that was passed on to you. Christopher Wylie has said under oath that this was basically set up as a money-laundering campaign for Vote Leave, and you were the vehicle to do that. When I see what he claims is the work you did in that 10 days, it not much work for that amount of money.
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
The amount of work we did was for exactly that amount of money. We provided full reports to BeLeave on that. We expressed to them before the campaign that collecting email addresses or mobile phone numbers was not going to be very efficient because it was such a short campaign. They agreed that this was okay, and their goal was to show the ads. That was their primary goal. If he's providing that information to the Information Commissioner, that's the only information the Information Commissioner will be concerned about with respect to how much information they collected.
I'm sure that Mr. Grimes has reported to the Electoral Commission all of the advertising work we did on his behalf. With respect to the donation, as I said in my opening statement, that was demonstrated to be entirely okay under U.K. electoral law.
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
It would be entirely okay, if these were two separate campaigns, but they were being run out of the same office, and the Google drives were all connected. You were brought in to handle £625,000 in the final 10 days, and it was funnelled through BeLeave. Again, Mr. Massingham asks, “Do you need me to get you some money?” Mr. Grimes says, “No, don't worry; Victoria Woodcock's going to get it for us.” It sounds as though you were just one very tightly run happy family, which would be okay if it weren't against the law.
That's why we go back to the opening conversation we had about your conversation with Mr. Wylie, in which he said that you knew and you thought it was funny that what you were doing was completely illegal. Then you tell us that at some point you sent him some kind of message, to a phone or some service that may not exist anymore.
I find it very hard to believe you. You are under oath, remember that.
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
I can only provide you the information that I have. With respect to the message I sent Mr. Wylie, as I said, it was at the end of March or the beginning of April when I learned about his allegations about exactly what we're speaking about.
9:20 a.m.
NDP
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
No, because the statements that he said at the time with respect to not receiving a text from me—
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
No, no, I mean as to whether or not what you said was a complete lie: that you knew that what you were doing was illegal.
Did he lie to our committee?
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
No, I believe he was mistaken. It's not a question of lying or not lying. I think largely—
9:20 a.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
I believe it is. When someone says that what you were doing was completely illegal, that's a complete attack on your professional career, and he said you laughed. That couldn't be a misinterpretation; it's either true or it's false. He either lied or, I suggest, you may be lying, but you can't just say it's a difference of opinion. It's legal or illegal.
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
This is a conversation that took place in April 2017. I don't recall ever telling him that I thought it was illegal. We spoke about the media and what they thought. Perhaps he interpreted what I was saying about the media as my saying it myself. I don't know, because I have not been able to communicate about them. The best way to resolve this would be for him and me to talk about it, but unfortunately that has not happened.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
We are well over time. Thank you, Mr. Angus.
If you don't mind, I'll take the next seven minutes.
What is the name of your point of contact at SCL?
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
We had a variety of contacts over time. Alexander Taylor was probably the chief point of contact at various times, but there were a number, depending on what the project was.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
You did a considerable amount of advertising for SCL, as you indicated to Ms. Vandenbeld, and you may have received the same audience and the same information from SCL. You said you did such a large amount it's hard to know.
You did Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S., and Nigeria. What other countries did you work for?
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
We created a door-to-door tool for Lithuania as well, and then, of course, worked on the presidential primary.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
In Nigeria, who specifically asked you to disseminate that video that you rightly opted not to disseminate?
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
But what is the name of the person at SCL who asked you to do it?
9:20 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, AggregateIQ
I don't recall. I'd have to look into that for you.
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
9:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith
Is it fair to say that the Brexit campaign was one of the largest campaigns you ever worked on?