Information & Ethics Committee on Sept. 27th, 2018

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.

On the agenda

Breach of personal information involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook

MPs speaking

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Mr. Michael MacPherson

Zackary Massingham Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Thank you.

Welcome back, Mr. Massingham. We were deeply worried we had lost you.

12:20 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Thank you.

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

We were asking about Hunter Watson, who is in the AggregateIQ database. Is that correct?

12:20 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

How do you mean “database”?

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Well, one of the people with access to your AggregateIQ database is Hunter Watson. Is that not correct?

12:20 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Do you mean GitLab?

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

I'm not a technical guy.

12:20 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Neither am I.

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

My job is getting Mrs. Brady's hydro turned back on in the morning when she's cut off.

I just want to know about your company's server—the one that was open and had all the issues that led to this Facebook issue. Hunter Watson has access rights to that. Is that correct?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Presumably, yes. He was a co-op employee of ours.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay.

Was Matt Watson ever a shareholder?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Yes.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay, so he was a shareholder.

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Yes, but not now.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

When did he stop being a shareholder?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

I don't have the exact date, but I'm sure that would be reflected in the document that I sent you.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay, but there were only four of you. There was you, Chris Shannon, Jeff Silvester and Matt Watson. One of the four left. So when did he leave?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

I'm not sure of the exact date, but I'm sure that will be in the document we provided.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Just as an aside, are you alone in the room? Are you getting coaching? Are you with somebody?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Yes, my lawyer is here.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay.

Is Jeff Silvester there?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

Yes, he is.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay, good.

Is Mr. Shannon there?

12:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, AggregateIQ

Zackary Massingham

No, he's not.

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Okay, good.

I'm interested. In July 2017, you responded to a journalist's request for information about the contract between Vote Leave and your company, AggregateIQ. You requested an exemption because you had “bespoke terms” with Vote Leave and you were worried that it might differ from other clients and impact commercial arrangements with other clients. What were the bespoke terms with Vote Leave?