Evidence of meeting #39 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was land.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Now, as far as the other properties go, where there's land, there is a contract with RCM trailers, but that was negotiated between Public Works and them. We had nothing to do with the RCM trailers.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I'm sorry. Just so I'm clear, the trailers are on your property...?
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
How would you describe them, using your own words? You obviously see them. They're on your property. How would they compare to your hotel in terms of the living conditions of the asylum seekers?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Well, it's not the same. I had the opportunity to visit briefly. These trailers are not the same as a hotel room. Our hotel rooms are classified with three to four stars in Quebec, and our rooms are all air-conditioned. We provide hot water and everything that is necessary for
the asylum seekers.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
When you're doing leasehold improvements there, what types of security considerations would you have had to include? Would you consider your hotel and the additional trailers to be a secured facility from a basic layman's point of view?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Are they a secure facility? Well, the only thing I can say is that for one or two years, we had fences all around our hotel. We have les commissaires. They're there for security purposes—
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Well, it's to keep my customers out, because actually the whole hotel is closed. We have no business from the outside world, so we're losing the goodwill that we—
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
There's been a material impact on your business. I can appreciate that.
Again, I note the multi-generational nature of the holding. I note that if you had a crystal ball that could have predicted this, perhaps this future contract or whatever donations, perhaps you'd be living in Bermuda and not where you are now, because you'd have answers to a whole bunch of other questions, I'm sure, that would be profitable, so I appreciate that.
I want to give you the last two minutes here to expand on anything. Given the fact that your name's come up publicly, I want to give you the chance to speak off the cuff here and share any final thoughts that you might have around this scenario that you found yourself in and what impacts it might have on you.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Well, we were very sensitive at the beginning. Customs had.... They were all overwhelmed. The RCMP was overwhelmed. Customs was overwhelmed. There were people everywhere. There was one case of a lady who had a baby in the hallway at customs, and something needed to be done, so they came to see me. I didn't solicit anybody. I didn't solicit any politicians. I didn't solicit any fonctionnaires, so everybody came—
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Sir, we had a list, I think. Ms. Saks listed all the people in terms of the process, but just for clarity and to be absolutely clear, at any point in time did you have any discussions with anybody political or...? We heard about Ms. Shanahan. Did you even talk to Mrs. Shanahan about it in passing?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Pat Kelly
Thank you.
As we get in to the next round, I'm going to cut the times a little bit. We're going to go over time, but not by much.
We're going to go to Mr. Kurek for four minutes. Go ahead, Mr. Kurek. You'll be followed by Mr. Fergus.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Thank you.
Thank you for coming to the committee today.
To make it clear and to follow up on Mr. Green, you mentioned that there have not been any conversations—not just negotiations, that was made very clear— with Ms. Shanahan.
Have there been any other discussions with any member of government, political staff or anyone outside of the public works folks and the initial contact from CBSA related to the leasing of your properties?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
There were none whatsoever.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
So that we can have a clear understanding of what the timeline is, do you know the date that CBSA came and approached you regarding the use of your facility?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Yes, I have a timeline here. It would be when they started renting two suites at the hotel on April 23, 2018.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
I'm sorry; let me go back. They came to rent my first building on May 1, 2017. I'm sorry about that.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
That would be the first time, yes.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
In any of the discussions that have taken place.... You mentioned earlier something very interesting, which was that the government talked about the confidential nature of these lease agreements. I'm curious if, at any point in time, the emergency nature of these leases or any of the property enhancements and whatnot were brought up by the government. Did the government ever bring up the emergency nature of how they were conducting these leases and whatnot?