Evidence of meeting #39 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was block.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:05 p.m.
As an Individual
Mr. Chair, what I did with that report was this. I received that report; I briefly took a look at it. I considered it to be nothing more than a compendium of public testimony given to the committee, and what I communicated to my client—
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Did you see on the report that it was marked confidential, sir?
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
12:05 p.m.
As an Individual
The report was clearly marked confidential. I understood it to be confidential.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you.
And to what client was it, again, that you sent this paragraph?
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you.
Did you share this with anybody else in your office, in your company?
12:05 p.m.
As an Individual
At no time did I share the copy of the report with any other individual, other than the communication of that paragraph—and there was a colleague of mine in my office who has also seen that paragraph—which was my only communication with relation to this report.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Thank you, Chair.
Let me first say that to be perfectly candid with you, I am extremely disappointed with those of you who would have received this confidential report and chosen not to report it immediately. Mr. Gibbons, you waited five days.
Ms. Hamilton, not only did you not report it, in my opinion--but I'll give you a chance to explain your actions, in case I've made an incorrect statement--you even e-mailed back saying “I love you” or “I heart you” for receiving it.
This is confidential information. You all know what that means. You all know that the consequences to receiving confidential information are severe.
My question to you first, Ms. Hamilton, is why didn't you take immediate action by either informing Ms. Block, or anyone else, for that matter, in the government? You're all very well connected. You all deal with government officials and cabinet ministers on a daily basis. You know that confidential information means exactly that: it's not to be seen until it's officially released.
Why didn't you just pick up the phone or send an e-mail back and say: “I got this from a staff member. I don't want to open it. I don't want to touch it.” Why didn't you do that immediately, Ms. Hamilton?
12:05 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual
Thank you for the question.
To begin, I think it would be helpful to provide a succinct account of the events as they transpired, from my perspective.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
12:05 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual
I promise.
On the morning of November 18 I received an e-mail from the House of Commons account belonging to Kelly Block, the member of Parliament for Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar, as I was putting my two daughters on the school bus. I knew it was from Russell Ullyatt, until recently a staffer in Ms. Block's office and someone I've known for several years.
I proceeded to the office, and it wasn't until after lunch that I had time to reply with a quick note that simply said “I heart you”, meaning I thank you. It's important to understand that at the time of sending the note I had not fully read either the e-mail or the document. As I'm sure you can all appreciate, with the flood of e-mails we all receive in the run of the day, many do not get read immediately.
My response was to a friend who I presumed was sending publicly available information. Throughout the afternoon, Russell and I continued to chat by e-mail without any reference to the report. He called me before end of day and we continued our conversation. It was only after I hung up that I remembered about the report. I quickly printed a copy. I thumbed through it before going on a teleconference and then heading straight to a dinner meeting.
The fact is, it was only after hearing from Russell on the following morning, asking me whether I had forwarded the document any further, that I realized what the document was and the serious error in judgment that had been made.
In terms of my actions, I was not in the office on Friday, but as soon as I arrived at the office on Monday I destroyed the only copy that I had printed, deleted the original message so that it could not be disseminated any further, and I did not share the contents with anyone.
I subsequently forwarded the original exchange of e-mails between Russell and me to the clerk to the finance committee at the request of Mr. Rajotte. As I had deleted the original message from Russell, I had to use the copy of my reply to his message in my “sent items” folder. It did not have the document attached and it was the only exchange I had involving the committee's report.
Thank you.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Are you saying, Mrs. Hamilton, that you didn't realize when you first received the e-mail that it was a confidential report? Wasn't it marked as such?
12:10 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual
I quickly glanced at it on my BlackBerry. The document came to me unsolicited. I did not know what it was when I got it. I believed it was publicly available information.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
So you're saying that obviously if you thought it was publicly available information, you didn't realize it was a confidential report.
12:10 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual
That's correct.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
12:10 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual
I didn't read the e-mail.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Mr. Cross, when you received the e-mail, what was your immediate response?
Let's put it this way: it was clearly marked “confidential”. Mr. Gibbons has testified to that. We know it was. Ms. Hamilton said she didn't realize it was. Did you realize that it was a confidential draft report, and what were your actions? What did you do immediately after receiving it?
12:10 p.m.
Principal, Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs, As an Individual
My response when I was received it was surprise. I had not asked at any point to receive this report. Upon receiving it, I did glance at it, but I spent no more than ten minutes with the document. I printed one copy. I was the only person who was ever in possession of that copy.
I made a critical error of judgment at a time that I was aware that it was a confidential document. I was unaware of how widely it had been distributed or broadcast, but that does not excuse me for my oversight. I did, in handling the document, send an information capsule of two points that were distilled from the report to one individual in a not-for-profit client of our firm. I followed up thereafter by contacting the client. I asked them if they had read the two- or three-line summation. They indicated that they had not, and I asked them to destroy all copies of the e-mail. I took proactive measures to ensure that the privilege of Parliament was respected.
