Government Operations Committee on May 26th, 2010

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

The fact that Mr. Jaffer submitted this $100 million proposal, unbeknownst to you, looking for money, the fact that Mr. Glémaud had said that if they had got any kind of interest by government they would have gone looking for a finder's fee, was all unknown to you.

[Jim Wright]

Let me stop you for a minute.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Sure.

[Jim Wright]

We didn't know he had submitted it until we saw it on TV. We knew he'd put something together because he sent us a document later. We got the document, but he didn't tell us he had submitted it, or he didn't tell us it had been rejected. We heard nothing.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

This is for clarity. We understand through Mr. Gillani and through government and Mr. Glémaud--I think it was Mr. Glémaud--that you actually had e-mailed to you, around about mid-September, questions that came from the Canadian government.

[Jim Wright]

I can't remember that. I don't know if it was questions from the government or not, because I didn't do it. I didn't put that together. People in the office put that together, other people. I only know that they were given a list of the cities across the nation that bio-solids... We only focused on bio-solids because we knew what that was and nobody wanted to touch it.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It's just that the committee understands that there was correspondence between the Canadian government--in particular, Mr. Jean's office and his officials and the officials of the department--to you.

[Jim Wright]

No, not with us.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Not to you.

[Jim Wright]

No. We got nothing from the government, nothing.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

We understand there was some correspondence, so maybe Mr. Glémaud did it.

Were you aware, around September 3, September 4, that when Mr. Glémaud and Mr. Jaffer were submitting the $100 million proposal, he was also meeting with the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities at that time? He didn't discuss this with you?

[Jim Wright]

I have to tell you, he didn't give us any information. When we heard this had been rejected, it was the first we knew about it. He never told us that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Ms. Coady, you have one minute.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you.

Interestingly, there was an e-mail around September 11--and I know I'm going back some time ago--in which Mr. Gillani said something had happened that furthered his level of confidence in what Rahim can do, the Green Rite project, both in the short and long term. Are you aware of the claim that there were things he could do in the short or long term, that something had happened?

[Jim Wright]

He never sent it to me.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

You weren't aware of any of this transpiring at the time.

[Jim Wright]

He never sent anything like that to me, so I didn't know about it.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

When you first were introduced... When Mr. Gillani set up this lunch for you, and Mr. Jaffer was in attendance, and you had this brief conversation where you inquired about Madam Guergis potentially writing the letter on your behalf, and you subsequently followed up on that, what were your expectations? Had you no expectations coming out of that at all?

[Jim Wright]

No, no. Maybe I misled you. I'm sorry.

He talked about green funds, but very briefly about green funds. You have to understand, there is nothing specific. We hear this all the time from people. There are stories going around—“oh, we can get you this”. There are people coming in the door who can talk a terrific game.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

It was just a very big approach, because $100 million—

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you. That's it.

[Jim Wright]

It's $100 million. Believe me, that turned me right off. It's nonsense.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Mr. Wright, you'll have an opportunity when other questions come.

Mr. Guimond, you have the floor for eight minutes. Go ahead, please.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for testifying before us, Mr. Wright.

I am going back to your first meeting with Rahim Jaffer. You said that he introduced himself as a former member of Parliament. That is what you said in your answer to my colleague's question. Is that right?

[Jim Wright]

First meeting....