Evidence of meeting #86 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 friend.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
That's fine.
I want to thank you for being here, and to congratulate you for all of the work you have done.
I was quite anxious and impatient to read the report. When I read it, I understood all the scope of the work and investigations that you did. I am not surprised that it took 11 months.
Did you address your questions directly to the Honourable Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Justin Trudeau, or to the Office of the Prime Minister?
As an Individual
They were addressed to the Prime Minister. I received replies from his lawyers, and I also had some meetings with the Prime Minister.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
So, you put questions to the Prime Minister, but you received answers from his lawyers, and not the Prime Minister himself.
As an Individual
No; it was in writing, and the answers were from the Prime Minister. I've forgotten what the document said exactly.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Your report says that attempts were made to discredit some of your questions. They said, for example, that there were differences in meaning in the French and English versions of the Act, such as in the meaning of the words avions and “aircraft”, for instance.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Yes. I want to know if the Prime Minister's lawyers attempted to discredit some of your questions. Did you have to ask again in order to find out what type of transportation the Prime Minister was referring to?
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Yes. I want to know if the Prime Minister's lawyers attempted to discredit some of your questions.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Yes? I see.
Were these the Prime Minister's personal lawyers, Privy Council lawyers, or lawyers from the...
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
I see. So these were the lawyers the Prime Minister paid himself in the context of this case.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
So that is one question we can put to the Prime Minister in the House.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Okay, that's fine.
My next question is about the third trip, when the Prime Minister's family went to the island. I'm referring here to the Prime Minister's wife, their friends and their children, probably.
Did the family ask for that trip, or did the family of the Aga Khan insist that the Prime Minister's family return to the island a third time?
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Who asked for the third trip?
In your report, you mentioned that there were communications between the wife of the Prime Minister and the daughter of the Aga Khan. Was it the daughter of the Aga Khan who absolutely insisted that the wife of the Prime Minister return to the island in March 2016, or was it the Prime Minister's wife who liked the island and wanted to return to it herself?
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
And yet, you saw emails that were exchanged, since you spoke about them. There were also phone calls and letters.
As an Individual
Yes, but I am not going to disclose anything besides what I wrote in the report. However, I can say that there was no important information in that area.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Ms. Dawson, could this whole saga have been avoided if the Prime Minister had asked you to authorize the trips, and discussed the transportation issues with you?
If he had told you he had no choice but to travel in the way that he did, and gave you the reasons, would you have given your approval?