Thank you, Madam Chair.
I had an opening statement that was 10 minutes long, but I will shorten it and try to deal with the four discrepancies that were disseminated by the media in the week of January 27 to 28. As a result of those falsehoods and allegations that have been substantiated without a shred of evidence, I find myself before you.
The first is a characterization that was made of me in a Le Téléjournal report by Patrice Roy, as a Conservative bagman for Quebec. He said I was an important collector of funds for the Conservative Party. That's the first falsehood.
In 2006 I took it upon myself to raise funds for the party I've supported for years. I was never a bagman and I was never responsible for the fundraising activities in Quebec. I didn't participate in any fundraising committee during that election campaign. On my own initiative I solicited my friends, my family, and various associates. Respecting the federal electoral law, I sent the proceeds of those efforts to the Conservative Party headquarters by mail. That was the extent of my involvement in the 2006 federal election campaign.
Since January 2006 I have never solicited anybody for the Conservative Party in Quebec. I've not raised any funds for the Conservative Party in Quebec. I've declined two or three invitations to participate on fundraising committees for fundraising activities in 2006 and 2007. Further, since my nomination to the board of VIA Rail at the end of 2007, I've refrained from any political activity at the federal level.
Putting those facts on the table, I think one would agree that referring to me as an important party bagman in Quebec is a gross exaggeration.
The second point I want to be clear on is that I'm not and have never been a registered or unregistered lobbyist for any company or individual for the federal government. It has never happened. Under the federal lobbying act, as I understand it, if I ever did anything that constituted lobbying, all I had to do was go online and register. Nothing prevents me, and nothing would prevent me, like the thousands of others, from registering as a lobbyist.
The third discrepancy is in regard to news reports that this now famous April 6, 2006, meeting between myself, John Lemieux, and Frédéric Loiselle was organized somehow or put together by Dimitri Soudas. That is false. I solicited the meeting directly with Mr. Loiselle, who I've known for a number of years. It was pertaining to a specific subject. I never asked Mr. Soudas to intervene in organizing that meeting for me. I've never asked Mr. Soudas to organize any meeting for me with anybody in this government. I've never asked anybody in the Prime Minister's Office to ever intervene to organize a meeting for me or anybody else.
I know I'm running out of time, Madam Chair, but I think my fourth point is an important one for everyone around the table. It's on the so-called second file in the rapportage of Le Téléjournal. It depicted me having clandestine meetings with potential suppliers to the defence ministry, showing aircraft carriers, and planes flying all over the place.
What's the saying, Mr. Roy and Mr. Leblanc? Don't let the facts get in the way of a good, sexy scandal. That's the reality. The facts of this supposed meeting are that I had dinner with two gentlemen in Montreal in a restaurant, a very public place. The dinner was put together by a mutual friend of mine and these two gentlemen in question. Mr. Soudas made an unscheduled appearance that day for dinner. He called me that afternoon in Montreal and said, “I'm in Montreal, Léo, visiting my ill mom.” It was not unusual for me to say, “Dimitri, why don't you hop on by and have supper with me tonight?”
At that dinner meeting one of the two gentlemen in question--the Liberal members around the table might know who he is--was Roch Charron. I understood from the meeting that he was a former attaché politique to a former federal Liberal cabinet minister. The second gentleman there was from the same company--I assumed they both worked for the same company. The company name was Alenia. I don't recall the name of the second gentleman. He was an Italian fellow from Italy living in Canada. He worked for the company, represented the company. In all honesty, I don't recall the name because it wasn't very important.
I think it's an important fact, Madam Chair, for the--