Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 14th, 2010

[Russell Ullyatt]

Yes.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

You did. What was the nature of that conversation?

[Russell Ullyatt]

I am a member of a social club here in Ottawa. Mr. Egan was looking to get involved, and I believe we had some communication back and forth as to how he could apply for a membership.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

You never talked about his appearance, his testimony, or the nature of what his lobbying group was looking for.

[Russell Ullyatt]

I believe I asked Mr. Egan if he would have a suggested question for the pre-budget consultation so that I might be able to have Mrs. Block better informed.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Do you think it might have been closer to my question if you had given me that answer first, instead of talking about the social club?

[Russell Ullyatt]

No. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, as I mentioned before, I do not have any of my e-mails. I do not recall every specific case, but the question being posed to me in such a manner reminded me of what actually happened. As I mentioned, it's been a very stressful month, and I do not remember everything.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I gave you some extra time there for the time I took.

That completes both of our rounds today. We'll stop at this point and suspend for a moment.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Before you suspend--

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Is this a point of order?

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I can make it a point of order if you want me to make it a point of order, but it's a point of information or a point of privilege on my part.

As I was listening to the witness, I heard a lot of inconsistency. Before we let the witness go, I'd like to ensure that the witness knows that he may be called back because we can't seem to get satisfactory answers. At one point he says he did not know why he gave it--

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Ms. Ratansi, the witness came of his own free will this time. I'm sure he will come again if we ask him to.

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

We reserve the right to call him back. That's just so he knows.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Certainly.

Thank you. Let's suspend for about two minutes while we bring in our other witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I call the meeting back to order. This is the second half of our meeting today.

We have five witnesses with us now. I'd like to give them each a chance. If you state your name and the company you are with, we will get to questioning. We'll try not to do opening statements. Hopefully you can provide anything that you might have in a statement through the questioning.

We'll start with Mr. Gibbons and work our way across. Please introduce yourself.

[Andy Gibbons, As an Individual]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon.

I do have brief remarks that will only take about two minutes, if you'll oblige.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

With the number we have today, let's just get to it and see if you can cover your remarks through answering questions.

[Andy Gibbons]

Sure.

My name is Andy Gibbons.

[Lynne Hamilton, Vice-President, Public Affairs, GCI Group, As an Individual]

I'm Lynne Hamilton. I'm vice-present at GCI Group.

[Clarke Cross, Principal, Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs, As an Individual]

Mr. Chair, I'm Clarke Cross. I'm a principal with Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs.

[Howard Mains, Co-President, Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs, As an Individual]

I'm Howard Mains. I'm a co-president of Tactix Government Relations and Public Affairs.

[Timothy Egan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Gas Association]

My name is Timothy Egan. I'm president of the Canadian Gas Association.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you very much.

Now that our witnesses are introduced, we'll start a seven-minute round. We'll do the same as we did in the last hour, with one round of seven minutes and one of five minutes.

Mr. Proulx, from the official opposition, will go first.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I go too far, are any of you five comfortable in testifying in French, or would you rather all be in English? English--okay.

Before I start my questioning, would any of you please raise your hand if you have never worked for or supported a Conservative MP or minister, either federally or provincially, or financially backed the Conservatives?

[Timothy Egan]

I've never worked for a Conservative MP or minister; I have made contributions to the Conservative Party.