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
Well, I will tell you that once they had the lease signed, they wanted everything for yesterday because it was an urgent matter, very urgent. Everything was for yesterday.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Has that continued? You mentioned a few minutes ago some five-year leases. Certainly it seems that when something's being signed for five years, that's a lot longer than what constitutes a typical emergency.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Well, they rented our building at 339 so they could get rid of all of their trailers for the RCMP and I think to downsize. By renting my two buildings, they were going to be saving quite a bit of money—
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
—on a lot of expenses they had right then.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
I'm just curious. I'm looking at some of the information here. You made donations to Ms. Shanahan's local EDA after signing these contracts. Did you ever consider that a conflict of interest might be perceived if someone looked at these contracts and the fact that you were making donations to a Liberal member of Parliament's campaign infrastructure?
October 17th, 2022 / 5:20 p.m.
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
It never came to my mind.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Have you met her in person or seen her in person since 2017?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
Yes. She stopped by my store. I have a retail store at the border, and she was doing her rounds, I guess, to visit all the different businesses in the area. She met my employees and me.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Was that during an election or outside of an election?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
I don't recall exactly the date, but she did come. They took a photo, and that photo ended up on CBC news.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Pat Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Kurek.
We're going to go next to Mr. Fergus for four minutes.
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your testimony today, Mr. Guay, which has been crystal clear. I am sorry that you find yourself in this situation, because in my view there was nothing problematic.
I would like to ask you the same series of questions as my colleague Ms. Saks asked you in English, so it is crystal clear in both official languages.
In your negotiations in this case, did you have any interactions with a minister of the government?
President, Importations Guay Ltd., As an Individual
No, I had no discussions with any politician whatsoever.
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I am going to ask my questions rapid-fire and you can answer simply yes or no.
Did you have any discussions with a minister of state or a parliamentary secretary?
Liberal
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Did you have any with a member of the staff of a minister, a minister or state or a parliamentary secretary?
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Did you have any with a person appointed by the Governor in Council or by a minister on the approval of the Governor General who exercises their official duties and functions on a full-time or part-time basis?