Evidence of meeting #42 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.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
On TVA, you gave the impression that Mr. Duschesneau acted illegally in that case. And yet on Radio-Canada you said that Jacques Duschesneau had nothing to do with those alleged embezzlements. Which of the two Prud'Hommes is telling the truth?
10:10 a.m.
Gilles Prud'homme
It's the same person, I said the same thing both times.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
You are saying that Jacques Duschesneau had nothing to do with the embezzlement?
10:10 a.m.
Gilles Prud'homme
I am saying that Jacques Duschesneau had asked me to sign a guarantee that later became a loan. I said that I didn't think that was to recycle money that came from embezzlement.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
10:10 a.m.
Gilles Prud'homme
Yes, it was at the branch located at 600 de la Gauchetière.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Mr. Coderre.
Thank you, Mr. Prud'Homme.
Mr. Calandra, you have five minutes.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I know that you said your mother was sick, Mr. Prud'Homme. I hope she's doing well.
10:10 a.m.
As an Individual
--we had the opportunity to give her two or three more years.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
Oh, good for you. I can sympathize with you. I had the same issues with my mother before she passed away. I know that it's a very difficult thing.
I can also sympathize a bit with Mr. Coderre: I can imagine how difficult it would be to sell Liberal memberships. But at least he had the good sense to do it with a spaghetti dinner. Being of Italian background, I know that spaghetti is always a good way to get people to feel good about themselves. It must be very difficult to get them to feel good about the Liberal Party and getting a membership.
I wanted to walk you through some of the testimony we heard. I'll go back to Mr. Sauvé. He said in his testimony when he was before us: “Having witnessed the rigmarole of the Peace Tower in 1994, and having gone back to Montreal with our tail between our legs, we had no choice this time around but to try something different”.
What he was referring to there, of course, was his perceived corruption in the process under the previous Liberal government with respect to a contract to get work done on the Peace Tower, and his inability to get things done. So he felt he had to do something a little bit different.
Later in his testimony, he said that when meeting you, you presented yourself as an organizer in the riding of Bourassa, which it's clear to me that you were, and that you said fundraising would be a way of helping to boost Conservative coffers in the province of Quebec. I do the same thing in my area of the country. We raise money so we can win elections.
He then went on to say: “Mr. Prud'Homme had a small network. He suggested the names of a few people who came. I would say that most of them, with the exception of the ones who arrived unexpectedly in the course of the evening, attended as a result of the calls that I and others had made, to ensure” that people would be there.
Then, talking about Mr. Varin, he went on to say: “The fact is that, despite his huge networks, Mr. Varin doesn't deliver. We had major problems at Montreal City Hall. His contacts are not just enough. The same thing applies to Parliament Hill. If you ask me, it's a phony organization”.
Despite all the attempts by the opposition to turn a fundraising event into some type of massive conspiracy, and despite their desperate attempts to tie Mr. Varin to something, it appears that Mr. Sauvé thought he was going to get something. He was going according to the Liberal process of the nineties. But then he ran into the Federal Accountability Act. He was a bit outmanoeuvred by Mr. Varin, but he admits that he got nothing out of anything that Mr. Varin did for him.
Do you have the power by virtue of being a fundraiser and a president to find your way into a sealed-bid process and make a change? Are you that powerful an individual that you, alone, can influence a contract at the West Block?
10:15 a.m.
As an Individual
I'm not powerful, and nobody knows me here, so....
I am not known to anyone in Ottawa. I don't make calls. I am not familiar with procedures for inviting tenders, that's not me. I don't even keep up to date. It's not a subject that concerns me.
10:15 a.m.
Conservative
Paul Calandra Conservative Oak Ridges—Markham, ON
You're just a guy who volunteered in a riding association. You've been a volunteer in political campaigns a number of times to help get people elected, and you've been brought in front of Parliament now by way of a desperate opposition attempting to create a scandal where there is none, instead of focusing on rehabilitating the buildings that for years, under previous governments, have been allowed to languish and deteriorate.
With that, I'll pass it over to Mr. Warkentin.
10:15 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe I'll get an opportunity to ask additional questions.
Mr. Prud'Homme, thanks so much for being here this morning.
It truly is a fishing expedition, what we've seen over the last number of weeks as we've had hearings on the issue at hand.
Witness after witness has come here with consistent testimony, bringing forward the facts: that no wrongdoing was undertaken, and that this cocktail invitation was simply that, an invitation to come and contribute to a respected political party with no anticipation of any political benefit. Can you confirm that this is a fact?
10:15 a.m.
Bloc
Diane Bourgeois Bloc Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Prud'Homme, I would like to clarify something before asking you questions.
Did you say earlier that you had dinner with Mr. Duceppe?
10:15 a.m.
Gilles Prud'homme
In the 1980s, we were both organizers for the RCM, Jean Doré's party: me in Montreal North, him in Rosemont. There were a lot of events. We organized conventions. Municipal district associations sometimes sold as many as 1,000 or 2,000 cards, so there had to be conventions organized. Everybody knew that they were running with Jean Doré, the time for change had come.
So I crossed paths a lot with Mr. Duceppe at that time.