Evidence of meeting #45 for Public Accounts in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was stewart.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
How many days would you say you did spend at your summer residence during that time?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Not even roughly?
Madam Fraser, how did you get the 258 days?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Chair, what the staff did was go through all of the telephone logs, all of the travel claims, all of the documents within the Office of the Correctional Investigator. If there was a telephone call, it was credited as a day worked. If there was a mileage claim for a trip in to Ottawa, it was credited as a day worked. If there was a document with a signature on it, it was credited as a day worked. They went meticulously through the whole calendar, which was provided, and found that over that period of time of six years, there were 258 days where there was no telephone call, no mileage claim, no indication of any meetings, e-mails, memos, no signature on an annual report, nothing.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
You indicated specifically there were 258 days within the vicinity of his summer home—
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Without conducting OCI business. There would have been more days, but there would also have been days that would have been considered as OCI business--if there had been a phone call, for example.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. So we seem to have some documented evidence here, Mr. Stewart, that you were not in your office or conducting work on behalf of the taxpayer for 258 days, and yet you booked absolutely no vacation days in your time as the Correctional Investigator. How is that? Did you not take one day of vacation?
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
First of all, let's deal with the time at the cottage. I had a cellphone there, but it was used by my family, so it—
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Ms. Fraser, did you find any evidence that the cellphone had been used for business purposes? Were there cellphone bills that were turned in that would be evidence?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
We would have used the telephone...yes, the bills, the telephone logs from the office cellphone.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Okay. So, Mr. Stewart, it seems that your cellphone calls for business purposes have been taken into consideration, and even with that there are still 258 days for which no work was done by you but for which you were paid.
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
No, there's no evidence that I didn't do any work. It was the Auditor General—
Conservative
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
The Auditor General is putting together telephone calls to try to establish how much work was done.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Well, there's no evidence that you did do any work during those 258 days. And you would think that during 258 days there would be evidence of some sort of interaction that could document achievement in your place of work, but there isn't, according to the Auditor General.
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
Can I ask a question? What is the Auditor General looking for?
Conservative
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
She just listed the things she was looking for. But we'll move on to another subject.
I will note that your summer residence has no land line, no Internet access, and no fax, so it would be impossible on planet earth for you to be doing any form of communication with your place of work on those hundreds of days that you spent at your summer residence for which you did not claim vacation.
You're a football fan. Is that still the case?
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
What's the relevance of that, sir?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Well, there were some coincidental visits to Grey Cup towns on game days--five of them, in fact. According to the Auditor General there was no evidence that you performed any duties during those visits whatsoever. Did you attend the games while you were in those towns?
Former Correctional Investigator, As an Individual
There isn't one point or anything to suggest that I was at a Grey Cup game.
Conservative