Evidence of meeting #117 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 vote.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Yes.
In July 2017, there was a journalist's request for the contract. Under the British freedom of information laws, you were looking to get an exemption because you were afraid that the contract would undermine your competitive bidding, because where the pricing reflects bespoke terms, it may differ from those offered to other clients and could impact commercial arrangements with other clients. Did you have those bespoke terms with Vote Leave?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Pricing depends on the scope of work that we undertake for each of our clients.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
If you had specific terms that were different, then it could affect your overall commercial viability. So what were the bespoke terms of Vote Leave?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Simply what's been invoiced. There's nothing special about that. It's simply the number.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay. In that same email exchange, you thanked Dominic Cummings of Vote Leave for his “speedy help”. What was the speedy help that he gave you in response to this request for the contract?
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Well, he gave you speedy help. You were looking for help. It was about a journalist's freedom of information request regarding that contract. What speedy help did Dominic Cummings give you? Did he give you the language on the bespoke terms response?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
No, I don't believe so, and I also don't recall what I might have asked him.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay. I don't want to keep going down rabbit holes. We have other things to speak about.
If our committee asks for the contract between Vote Leave and BeLeave, would you be willing to hand that over to us?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Sorry, the contract between Vote Leave and BeLeave?
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Your contract with Vote Leave and your contract with BeLeave—would you be willing to turn those contracts over to our committee?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Yes, I believe we can give you everything that we have there.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Good.
The question here is that we have two independent reports that have found a breach of a British electoral law, a serious breach that undermined the Brexit vote, which is causing ongoing economic and social upheaval in the United Kingdom. We see there was coordination between those two campaigns. That's been proven. We have the Slack channel between BeLeave and Vote Leave. We have the Google Drive between the two campaigns. You're involved in both of those. We have a transfer of money between the two campaigns. You're involved in that. There were meetings between the two campaigns that you were involved in. Mark Gettleson, one of the key Vote Leave people, is the guy who brought you in to BeLeave.
Yet you say you don't know how there could be any coordination that broke the law. This has put your company in a legally vulnerable position.
For all that money, don't you think you should have done some due diligence?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Just to correct you, Mark Gettleson introduced us to Vote Leave, and that was the end of his involvement.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
That was the end of his involvement. Even if we concede that one, all the others they found, point after point, the two.... Where the illegal coordination was done, it keeps coming back to AggregateIQ. You're saying that you had no knowledge of that.
Christopher Wylie said that AggregateIQ “inherited...a company culture of total disregard for the law.” We had Jeff Silvester being quoted through Chris Wylie that there was no signing, that what you did was known to be illegal, and yet you're telling us that you are either the most naive people who ever walked the planet, who walked out with all that money in the midst of an illegal campaign, or you're not telling us the truth.
Just to end this, you're protected here, Mr. Massingham. Whatever you tell us cannot be used in court against you.
You put your shareholders and your company in a legally vulnerable position. If you had to do it all over again.... What are you going to tell us?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
The advice that the Electoral Commission gave Vote Leave at the time was that the donation was allowed. They have since ruled that it is not. I know that money's still—
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
They didn't say it wasn't allowed. They said that the two were coordinating, that it was illegal activity between the two, and you are the conduit between the two. That's what they ruled.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
They didn't change their minds. They said that what was illegal was the coordinating, and you are the connecting link.
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Certainly we did not see any evidence of coordination between those two organizations.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
Thank you, Mr. Angus. I gave you a bit more time, just because of the break.
I just have a question for you, Mr. Massingham. Who's in the room with you currently?
Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ
Michelle, our lawyer, and Jeff Silvester.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
The room that you're in currently is in what building? Where are you currently?