Yes.
Evidence of meeting #137 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was residence.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #137 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was residence.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
Yes.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay. Does that seem like a problem to you?
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
Mr. Finkelstein is one of Canada's greatest entrepreneurs.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
He might be a great guy, sir. I've never met him. The point is that members of your immediate family were employed by him. You used a position in government to recommend him for a position at the same time as members of your family were on the board, and you didn't recuse yourself from that discussion.
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
Our family was not on the board of Shopify.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
No, but they were employees of his company.
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
They were employees, yes, but not on the board as you stated.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You recommended him to the board while members of your family were his employees. That's on the record, and people can make their own judgments.
Sir, you were a journalist until 2017. Is that correct?
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
No, I didn't recommend him to the board. Which board are you talking about?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
We're past this now, and I have limited time.
You testified that you recommended him to be on the board of CBC.
You were a journalist until 2017. Is that correct?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Excuse me. We have a point of order from Mr. Sorbara.
Go ahead, please, on the point of order.
Liberal
Francesco Sorbara Liberal Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON
I want to ask about relevance in terms of where Mr. Genuis is going with this. This has nothing to do with anything with regard to the residence in New York City. This is asking the consul general about past matters in his life and in past roles. This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand here at this committee.
I know Mr. Genuis likes to go down these paths and become like some sort of spy detective, but let's get serious here. There's no relevance here, Garnett.
Conservative
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Can I just comment on this point of order, Chair?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I think we'd like to just get to our time.
Mr. Sorbara, it's not a point of order.
Go ahead, Mr. Genuis.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Just on the point of order, I think there are a lot of questions today about Mr. Clark's credibility and his close connections with the government. The facts are that Minister Joly appointed him twice and that he was able to recommend people with whom he had close connections when he was in one of those positions, and now he's in this new appointed position and is receiving the benefits associated with this $9-million residence. I think these things are very much relevant to the questions of credibility that are involved.
I have a minute and a half left. Is that right?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I'm sorry. I'm commenting on the point of order. Was this part of my time?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Chair, I don't think that was clear.
Very quickly, Mr. Clark, you were a journalist until 2017. During the 2011 election campaign, a member of your family had a senior position within the Liberal national campaign. Did you disclose that at the time?
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
Did I disclose it to whom?
Conservative
Consul General of Canada in New York, United States, Consulate General of Canada in New York
It was not relevant.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you for that.
I'd like to now move a motion. The motion is that Minister Joly be asked to appear before the committee before the Thanksgiving break to answer questions about actions, policies and plans related to GAC's real property portfolio in other countries and any other issues related to the committee's mandate, and further, that the committee invite Emily Nicholson to appear.
Having gotten that motion moved within the time, I will now speak to it.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Let me interrupt briefly. Have you sent a copy of it to the clerk?