Evidence of meeting #97 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 business.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
Can you explain something, Mr. Brennan? When you talk about writing a letter and submitting what you did, is that not why you were hired?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
I was specifically hired for my business architecture background. They needed help in other scenarios, and I stepped in to help.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
It was by the day. There were a number of activities I would do in a day, and then I would provide deliverables, whether those be an advisory note, research, an update, industry insights, standards, compiled documents or suggestions for areas of the federal government that might fit with what they were looking to do. Again, I consistently provided possibilities that would help them with their strategy.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
That's fair enough. When you produced the letter addressed to a department, or when you made references to phone numbers that were publicly available, you were offering them something they were asking for.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I'm trying to determine what untoward activity occurred here other than your attempt to provide an opportunity for this company to get a job, because they were looking to promote themselves and you were facilitating that promotion. Is that correct?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
Yes. I did that, with the best of intentions, for $2,565.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Brennan, how long have you been acting at this job?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
As a business consultant, I actually have a large firm. I actually opened my doors and started working on my very first contract with the federal government in late 2004.
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
Can you tell me who did the economic review? To be candid, I don't know.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
My point is that you worked under different government parties, and throughout that period of time you would have had relationships, in your business practices, with a number of public servants.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Did you ever have a personal relationship with a Conservative minister?
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Did you have any contacts with elected officials from other governments?
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
That practice has been consistent, has it not? Has your practice been consistent in dealing with the civil service as opposed to dealing with elected officials in any party?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
Absolutely. If you went back 20 years and an auditor took a look, you would not see any invoicing for any kind of lobbying or any of that kind of activity. It's very specific to business process engineering and that type of consulting.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I guess there have been some allegations—and that's what this is, and we don't want to jump to conclusions, which I think is being done at times—that you have had to do the job on behalf of Botler, which doesn't have a contract with the government. Neither does GC Strategies, by the way, in this instance. It wasn't them who had the contract either. They're both subcontracting without having their own contracts within the system. It's all very convoluted, and they're all aspiring to obtain something from the government. Was that why they came to you for advice?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
No. Specifically Botler came to me for advice to understand how the federal government.... Specifically inside of Treasury Board they have several plans and priorities, and in those plans and priorities they identify the plans and priorities in information management technology, security services, finances and HR applications. I work in the resource management space.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
You have familiarity from many years of experience with, as I understand it, governments of various political stripes, and that is where you offer value to them. When you said you fibbed, what did you actually fib about? You seem to have an understanding of the system, such that you could provide direction. That's why they hired you. Is that correct?
1:10 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
Absolutely. That's the reason they hired me.
