Evidence of meeting #18 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was gillani.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
You saw in Rahim Jaffer the one who would give you the combination to the safe to get grants for your perfectly legal and legitimate company.
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Did I think he could get us funding for our company? Yes, I thought he could be a link to getting us government funding. Did I think he was going to open the doors to the Prime Minister's Office? No. That was a stretch, even in my wildest dreams.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Perhaps not open the doors to the Prime Minister's office, but, when you met, did he tell you he could put you in touch with ministers and parliamentary secretaries? Did he mention the name Brian Jean, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and who manages a fund of almost $1 billion?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
No, no names were ever mentioned as far as who he would be working with, if it went that far.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Did he tell you he would help to open doors for you?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
No. He never said he was going to put us in touch with the right people. He never said he was going to cut a cheque for us, or anything like that. We were left to walk away with the impression as to how we felt he was going to achieve that.
I think he was responsible, in that he didn't make mention of how he was going to get us funding. He just said that he had relationships in government and that we could potentially qualify to get funding from the government. How he was to achieve that, through his partnership with Mr. Gillani, was something I didn't know about.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
He talked to you about government contacts, but gave you that business card.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
We are not talking about the government of Prince Edward Island right now.
May 26th, 2010 / 4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
We are talking about the Conservative government, currently in power.
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Without a doubt, I was surprised to get that card. That being said, I don't recall there being a caveat attached to his handing that card out to us. But he certainly didn't say, “I work for the government. I'm going to get you funding.”
I knew he was no longer in office, so I was able to draw my own conclusion that he still had relationships with the government, but not that he was going to knock on the doors of the caucus and get funding.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
As to his connection to the government, did he tell you that his wife was a cabinet member, a minister?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
He didn't mention that. I found that out just doing a Google search on him. So it was after the fact that I found out he was actually married to former minister Guergis.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Richard, do you want to ask questions?
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Did you have meetings with Mr. Gillani through Mr. Jaffer? Does that sound familiar?
4:55 p.m.
As an Individual
He was there, yes. He was the one who I think you would say hosted the lunch or the afternoon meeting.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Did you have other meetings after that? I know you had that meeting. But were there others where you talked about how to obtain information or forms, or how you could get funding for your business projects?
4:55 p.m.
As an Individual
Outside of that e-mail that we were sent the day after, that was the only further indication that there was to be something forthcoming with respect to funding our business.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
Remember how Mr. Jaffer dealt with you at the time. On other occasions in your company, were there people who did this type of lobbying to help you to discover the places from where you could get federal funding?
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC
So that is what makes your meeting with Mr. Jaffer unique. He dangled some things in front of you, without necessarily handing you everything on a silver platter. He tried to get your permission to provide you with information that could have given you the opportunity to get funding legally from the federal government.
4:55 p.m.
As an Individual
It's tough, really, to answer that as far as the impression I had versus what was actually discussed. Anything that we got as far as representations of terms or even the dollar amount and the interest rate, all that sort of stuff came from Mr. Gillani, and we assumed it was via Mr. Gillani from Mr. Jaffer. Whether that was actually written by Mr. Gillani with or without consultation with Mr. Jaffer is entirely something I can't answer. I don't know. That was at the end of any discussions around government funding.
