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.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
What was the actual context of the text, if it wasn't that?
12:15 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
The actual context used GEDS, an electronic directory service, to identify people in roles who may look at the letter.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB
You're saying, then, that you have no other connections with any other Liberal ministers, if we were to go through all of your communications. All right, then.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, everyone. It's good to see everyone since last year.
Mr. Brennan, thank you for being here today and talking about what is accurate and what is misinformation.
What you're telling us at the outset is that you haven't had any direct contact with ministers and/or elected officials in regard to the work you do. Am I accurate in that?
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
As you know, the investigation that's proceeding is internal as well as with the RCMP regarding Botler, not ArriveCAN; that's not under investigation. However, the consequences of some of what's being discussed at this committee bring caution in terms of how things are operating, and we want to make certain that they're done appropriately. Of course, we take that very seriously.
Have you been contacted by the RCMP?
12:15 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
No, I have not been contacted by the RCMP or any auditors.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Have you been contacted by any investigators, internally or otherwise?
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
As for the advice you provided Botler, you said a bit at the outset about having some discussions, and I think their goal was to expand their pilot program to government departments. They came to be because Botler didn't have.... Explain to us how that came to be. What was the advice that you were providing them?
12:20 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
I was introduced to Botler through GC Strategies. My background is actually in business process re-engineering, so I was engaged—again, I'll pull up the exact wording—to provide advisory research, document compilation and report writing to Botler.
As far as whatever business they signed.... I don't know if it's a pilot project, a proof of concept or a feasibility study. I've heard all three.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Yes, and I want to expand upon that, because there was no contract, from what I understand. Did you understand that? Did you understand that they had a contract or did not have a contract with the government?
12:20 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
I understood that Botler and GC Strategies were working with CBSA.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Was it your impression that they had a contract at that point?
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
12:20 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
It was for their business, yes. They are in the space of looking at proactively managing harassment in the workplace.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Was there a directive that they received from the government to do this? How did you premise it, or did you just hear from them as to what you needed to do?
12:20 p.m.
Professional Consultant, As an Individual
I heard from them. Again, I signed a small contract with Botler to provide them consulting services.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I'm trying to understand, because, to your point, we have some misinformation as to what they were to do, what their role was with government. We're hearing conflicting testimony on that too, that they put forward a huge Cadillac when they were looking only for a tricycle, that a lot of work was done that was not asked for.
Do you understand how that came to be?
