Evidence of meeting #34 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 sauvé.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning to all members, witnesses and guests. I want to welcome you. This is the 34th meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Here's the agenda.
Welcome, Mr. Varin and Mr. Rousseau.
Mr. Varin is accompanied by his counsel. I will remind counsel and all that counsel is restricted to an advisory role and may not answer questions on behalf of the witness.
Mr. Regan, go ahead, please.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
It's not the usual practice, but there's no reason why not. Is that right? It's entirely at the committee's discretion. If the committee wishes to have the witness sworn in, we can have the witness sworn in.
Seeing no objection, I'll ask the clerk to attend to the swearing in of the witness, please.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I would like to raise a point of order after the witness is sworn in, Mr. Chairman.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I'm going to wait until after the swearing in, but I want to do it before Mr. Varin's evidence.
Gilles Varin As an Individual
I, Gilles Varin, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Liberal
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I understand that Mr. Varin may have to consult his lawyer, but I would like that consultation time to be deducted from the question period or from the time allotted to us to ask our questions to ensure we have the time to ask those questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
I'll try to accommodate that as best I can. Thank you.
Monsieur Varin, you have up to 10 minutes to make your initial presentation, and thereafter members will ask questions.
Thank you.
As an Individual
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for welcoming me here today. It's a pleasure for me to accept this invitation in order to correct certain statements that have been reported in the newspapers.
First of all, I would like to make an initial correction. Reference has been made to $140,000 or $150,000, but that figure is incorrect. The exact amount that was paid to me over a period of 30 to 34 months was $118,000. I received fees from Mr. Sauvé. He himself determined the amount of my fees, an amount that I accepted. That was done over a period of 30 months. However, I was consulted on many more files than the one we are concerned with.
I would also like to submit a document, an article that appeared in the October 27 issue of Le Devoir. I obviously didn't know it had to be translated into English. The clerk will therefore have it translated before it is submitted to you. I would like to introduce it. The third last paragraph states what was apparently said by Mr. Sauvé, who gave the interview:
The most recent contract was the one for $8.9 million to renovate the Canadian Parliament's West Block, a contract that was “obtained by call to tender and without any political involvement,” he added. This is obviously a very promising new client since the entire restoration program for the Parliament buildings in Ottawa is estimated at $1 billion.
I would like to submit this document for it to be distributed to committee members. I believe this article will confirm what I have to say today.
I'm ready to answer your questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Mr. Varin.
It is the usual practice, of course, to submit in both official languages. This is in French only.
Can we waive that?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
We can waive it, but only on the consent of the committee.
And consent is given? Okay. Therefore, I'll ask the clerk to distribute the article.
We'll go to Mr. Regan for the next eight minutes, please.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Varin, thank you for being here today. I did an Internet search on your company, Varin Communications, with little result. You apparently don't have much of an Internet presence. How do you go about finding your clients?
As an Individual
It's by word of mouth. I've been in the same occupation for about 40 years. Incidentally, I forgot to mention, even though I wanted to emphasize this, that I am not a lobbyist. I'm a strategic communications and business development consultant. I've been doing this kind of work for about 40 years.
Over those 40 years, I have probably had a few hundred clients. I haven't been able to count them exactly. I have always worked for fees with all my clients. For some clients, I received fees plus a commission, but I have always received fees from all my clients.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Apart from Mr. Alain Sauvé, what other clients have you had in recent years?
As an Individual
I've had a lot of clients in recent years, I've obviously had some in the private sector. Mr. Chairman, I don't know whether I'm being ordered to name them, but I haven't requested permission from those clients to name them today.
As an Individual
I can do that. Do you want to know all those from last year?
Liberal