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.
As an Individual
Mr. Chair, I find the question slightly difficult to answer, because with the amount of goings-on in an MP's office, sometimes it's not possible for a staff member to, even themselves, keep track of everything that's going on. There would be constituents—
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
My question is very specific. You've sent us a letter of apology for this one incident. Other than this one incident, is there anything else that you've done that was against the rules? That's a clear question, and I'd like a clear answer.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Is it a fair conclusion, then, that everything else you did in her office was in accordance with the rules and in accordance with the instructions she had given you?
As an Individual
To the best of my knowledge, yes. Everything else I would have done in her office was within the rules.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Now, you have a business, do you not, that involves political mailing?
As an Individual
That is.... Mr. Chair, I came today prepared to answer questions about the leak. If you'd like me to discuss my personal business, I'm happy to do so.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
The two might cross, and here's the question. I'm in the Confederation Building, and I've had occasion to see, in front of Ms. Block's office, skids, pallets with boxes piled high, and a very elaborate printing machine that was there as well. Was the—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
I'd like to suggest that we are here on the matter of privilege of the leak of a—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Please let me finish.
We're on a matter of privilege about a leak of confidential information. It does appear as you're about to wander into an area that's responsible at another committee and not this one.
December 14th, 2010 / 11:30 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
So I caution you, and I will interrupt you again if you're going there, that this really needs to go to the Board of Internal Economy or some other committee, if that's the case.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
I understand that, but this is also going to be a question of credibility. We've already got Mr. Ullyatt, who has testified in a letter that he sent in yesterday to the probity of everything that was done. As you might have noticed, I was having difficulty getting a clear answer to my questions about whether or not Ms. Block was aware of and agreed with everything else that he did. My question was quite specific with regard to his company that does mailings and with regard to the skids and the printing machine.
Is there a relationship? I'm going to be able to ask that question of Ms. Block when she comes here, but I wanted to get a clear indication from Mr. Ullyatt whether all the work that was done on printing and distribution of documents at her office received her approval, yes or no. That's my question to him.
As an Individual
Mr. Chair, my only answer can be yes. I don't know the skids of material that are in question. However, yes, Ms. Block was aware of other goings-on in her office.
NDP
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
That's a clear answer to my question.
That's all for this round, Mr. Chair.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Thank you.
Monsieur Proulx, let's start the second round. Five minutes, please.
Sorry, it's Madam Foote. Sorry, we had the wrong name down on the page.
Conservative
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ullyatt, for being here.
I realize that you've indicated it's been a stressful month for you. Having said that, I really do need to take you back through the timeframe you mentioned to us, where you in fact said you started to send out the e-mails at 8:37 a.m. and the last e-mail to a lobbyist went out later that day at 5 p.m. But you say you didn't send it to Ms. Block until 7:30 that evening. Isn't that a little unusual, don't you think, for you not to have advised Ms. Block what you had done?
When you wrote to her at 7:30 and sent her the report, what did you write to her, and did you hear back from her that evening?
As an Individual
Mr. Chair, I don't have access to the materials that the committee does. I don't have a frame of reference as to what I wrote Ms. Block. Typically, on a day-to-day basis, I sent her many e-mails. I believe my first action when I received the report was to print it for Ms. Block. Sometimes committee e-mails through the clerk or the clerk's assistants miss certain staff members or miss the members of Parliament themselves, so I may have forwarded it to Ms. Block at 7:30 to ensure she received it, but I do not recall what I would have said in my message to her, or if I received a response back.
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
What account did you send it to? Was it the Shaw account?