Thanks very much, Chair.
I wanted to just refer to Krista Hessey from Global News, who published an article on June 4, 2024. Ms. Hessey has in the article here questions asked of Mr. Anderson:
When asked if he worked with another Randy, Anderson stated that he did, but would not disclose the employee’s full name. He said the other Randy was “head of logistics.”
I do want to note that.
We have a challenge when we're looking for records from this company, I think. It's not because of the size of the company; it has a handful of employees. However, of course, there is the matter of the fire that may cause a challenge for us in getting records from the company. On September 25, 2022, GHI's Edmonton unit was set ablaze, and detectives working alongside Edmonton Fire Rescue Services determined that the fire had been deliberately set following a break and enter to the premises, destroying inventory and records.
This, of course, preceded the lawsuits that followed with GHI, and, of course, the Ghaoui Group made a $7.3-million claim for loss and damages. There is the claim on the missing money—the outstanding money—that the intention of GHI was that they would pay Ghaoui back with insurance money. We're unsure if the deposit was used to procure product or what had taken place there, but questions abound after that fire, including whether they have a list of their employees.
The public reporting is that Randy—other Randy or alibi Randy—is an employee, but I think, to just capture it all, yes, let's ask for contractors, subcontractors, consultants and employees who are named Randy. Simply getting phone records and not other Randy is a problem because we don't know the application that other Randy and Mr. Anderson were using for communication. There are too many messaging apps that are in common use to itemize, but we don't know. That simply because someone ought not use their phone for something means it is therefore excluded from the interest of the committee in getting an answer is not sufficient.
We would need to see messages from all messaging apps, and we would need to see call logs from all calling apps for both Mr. Anderson and the minister—Randy—as part of our inquiry into who the other Randy is, but that's not a conclusion.
Certainly, in having Mr. Anderson come before the committee to answer questions, he would be forewarned that question one will be the first and last name of the other Randy or Randip or alibi Randy—we need to know. That's going to be question one, so of course Mr. Anderson must come to the committee. We need answers to our questions. An exhaustive review of communications logs from all telecommunication devices owned by Mr. Anderson is the only way to give credibility to this question here. Barring that expansion, we can't support this.
We've gone from having Ghaoui Group, Anderson, Poon and other Randy come to committee—the subject of the messages, the third party—to eliminating other Randy, which is the question in front of us.
Now there's the suggestion that we'll get these messages. We're going to amend the motion to get messages from one device and potentially eliminate the call for the other two witnesses. Come on, that dog won't hunt. We're going to need to see all messages, all call logs and all devices owned by Mr. Anderson, and the same goes for the minister.
If we're going to follow this thread on devices, it needs to be complete. That's what Mr. Brock asked for. The clerk might not have sent a note to the minister, but he was here. He heard the request. He also had a gaggle of staff with him who, I'm certain, minuted the request. I'm sure they watched the game tape after and saw that the request was there.
The one phone just isn't sufficient. It just isn't sufficient that what went through his wireless provider is it. I can say with a great deal of certainty that almost everyone in this room—members and others, members and strangers—uses applications for messaging other than the native messaging app on their phone. There's Wickr and WhatsApp. Here we go. Let's name some. I know people use Facebook Messenger often. I find that surprising, but to each their own. People DM on Instagram and Snapchat. I don't think people use it to instant message, but there's an app called BeReal that people really like. There are lots. People will make calls on Skype, Teams and Zoom as well. People will instant message on those. There are a variety of encrypted and unencrypted messaging apps. They're quite common in government, in politics and in military and civilian applications.
It's really half-hearted in its current form. We'd need more meat on those bones, because this thing has been pared down so much that we've gotten away from the penultimate question. Who is other Randy?