Government Operations Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2024

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Who is that?

[Emily Nicholson]

That person is Franck Hounzangbé.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

On July 24, this committee passed a sweeping accountability motion on this $9-million condo purchase for a Liberal insider during a cost of living crisis here in Canada. Then, the following day, you issued a bogus correction to your June 17 email. In that correction, you say, “Neither Head of Mission (PRMNY nor CNGNY) was part of the selection or approval process for the overall process or the property purchase.”

Just so we're clear, you wrote this email that I'm referring to, from July 25, 2024, and you wrote the email that I previously referenced, from June 17, 2024. Did I accurately quote you in both?

[Emily Nicholson]

Yes, Mr. Chair, I drafted those emails.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

In the first email, you say, “Both CNGNY HOM and staff have been instrumental throughout this process, with the HOM providing the greenlight for the selection of the new residence.” That's not a typo. It's not a comma instead of a semicolon. That's very deliberate language. It's the head of mission providing the green light.

Who instructed you to issue the correction that you issued on the 25th, which was the day after the motion was passed by the committee?

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, no one instructed me to make a correction.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

You'll have to elaborate, ma'am. The timeline is beyond curious.

On June 17, you explicitly say the head of mission greenlit the project. On July 24, the committee issues the invitation for Mr. Clark to appear, and the next day your mind is cast back more than a month to issue a correction to the email that you sent, just of your own volition.

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, as I said in my opening remarks, the term “greenlight”.... First, I think it's important to remember the context in which the first email was drafted. The first email—

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

With all due respect, ma'am, the question was about the genesis of the so-called correction email that you sent.

Did you do this entirely of your own undertaking, without discussion, consultation or instruction from anyone?

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, I work with the best available information provided at the time. After issuing the initial email on June 17, which was, as I mentioned, an initial overview, the office of the associate requested that the leads go through and pull together a more detailed chronology of events.

Once that information was available, I relayed that information to the minister's office. No one asked me to correct anything. I relayed the best available information that was presented to me at the time.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Who told you that Mr. Clark was not involved?

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, the records from the property branch demonstrated that the consul general was aware of the process but not involved or in a decision-making role.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

I have to tell you, that's quite the reversal. You effectively swallowed yourself whole in this correction that you issued within a day of this committee ordering Mr. Clark to appear.

I'm just going to quote you back to yourself. You wrote about the head of mission “providing the greenlight for the selection of the new residence.” That was based on the best available information that was provided to you at the time, but the information that you received a month later—a day after this committee passed the motion—is a complete reversal of that.

Will you table for this committee all correspondence—written, electronic or otherwise—related to this issue and specifically to the July 25 subject matter that you write on?

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, of course I'm happy to provide the material that would be useful.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you.

Our committee has passed a motion where we require any requested documents within three calendar weeks, not business weeks.

We will now go to Mr. Jowhari for six minutes, please.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Nicholson, for joining us and for clarifying.

I'd like to get an understanding of two things. One is the general role that you play, and the other is the process that you go through in providing an update with a lens as it relates to the residence. What I've jotted down is that there seems to have been some conversation on June 14, which led to the June 17 update. A motion was passed on July 24 for a study, and on July 25 you felt that you needed to make some clarification. That's the chronology that I have.

Let's start with the role that you play within the department. What role do you play?

[Emily Nicholson]

Mr. Chair, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, I serve as the chief of staff to the associate deputy minister. My role is largely to ensure that she, in her role, has the information that she needs to carry about her key business.

Specifically with respect to this question today, my role was really that of a liaison, to move information between the experts, the property branch and the minister's office.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

How often do you meet with the assistant deputy minister?

[Emily Nicholson]

Do you mean with the associate deputy minister? I work with the associate on a daily basis.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Okay. Do you have a weekly...? Do you talk about topics on an everyday basis?

[Emily Nicholson]

We spend a good deal of our time together. We have set meetings, and we touch base in the morning to go over key files for the week.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Okay. Was this one of the key files that you were providing an update for on June 14?

[Emily Nicholson]

No, Mr. Chair. On June 14, the question came to our office from the minister's office.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Okay. On June 14, a question came from the minister's office making an inquiry about this.

Was that a regular part of an inquiry from the minister's office coming to your department about many different things, and that happened to be one of them as well?