Public Accounts Committee on June 4th, 2007

[Dominic Crupi]

Correct.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

I just want to make that absolutely clear.

Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

John will be taking the next one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Excuse me.

Mr. Williams, three minutes.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

What I'm really trying to find out is why all this is going on--the relationships that are going on. Mr. Brazeau, according to this KPMG audit, you seem to be at the centre of it all.

Looking at the beginning of the audit, it talks about, “In 13 of 13 cases where a resource is added to the vendor search, they are awarded the contract.” And “The specific requested resource is added to the vendor search for limited tenders in 13 of 15 cases.”

Did you know all these people--the Caseys, the Koziols, the Onischuks, Mr. Crupi? Did you know all these people well?

[Frank Brazeau]

No, I didn't.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Why did you give them all these benefits?

[Frank Brazeau]

I didn't give them any benefits, sir.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Okay. I'm looking at the audit again. On page 82, Mr. Onischuk sent an e-mail, dated December 2002, to Mr. Brazeau, which states:

Good afternoon, Frank:

The purpose of this message is to make you aware that NCPC has a requirement for a Information Security Technical Analyst....

--and it goes on--

Attached is a statement of work. NCPC preferred contractor would be Alan F. Armstrong. I would like to have Mr. Armstrong working as soon as possible.

So you were taking direction from Mr. Onischuk and saying, okay, if that's what he wants, that's what he gets. Why did you do that?

[Frank Brazeau]

I did not do that. I followed the rules that were within CAC at that time.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

On page 44 of the same audit there is an e-mail from Mr. Koziol to Mr. Brazeau, cc'd to Mr. Crupi, from April 16, 2002. The subject is SOWs for two contracts. It reads: Hi Frank,

We really enjoyed lunch with you. As discussed we have a requirement for two limited tender contracts. We are currently unsure whether for the longer term we should use the proposed Supply Arrangement which should be in place by August by PWGSC or to actually put it out for an RFP for these services. Any thoughts that you have would be welcomed. Both contracts would be for Casey Computing Solutions.

--we're talking about sending out an RFP, but both contracts would be for Casey Computing Solutions--

The first one would be for Jeannine Benoit-Richer and Shirley MacDonald to perform pensions data mapping and the second one is for Monique Dumais to perform communication services. Let me know what else you need. Thanks.

Is this doing your job, Mr. Brazeau?

[Frank Brazeau]

At the time, it was doing my job.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

You're saying that this is doing your job.

Did you know Mr. Koziol?

[Frank Brazeau]

I knew of him. We worked at--

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

No, no. You just had lunch with him.

[Frank Brazeau]

I worked with Mr. Koziol in the same branch in the 1990s.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

But you had lunch with him that day.

[Frank Brazeau]

I had lunch with a lot of my clients, yes.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Koziol, do you remember this?

[Anthony Koziol]

Yes, I do.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Do you remember? How well do you know Mr. Brazeau?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Brian Fitzpatrick]

This is your last question.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

What happened to the old chair? He was a lot easier on me.

[Anthony Koziol]

I knew Mr. Brazeau from working in the Public Works compensation sector in the mid-1990s. We didn't work together, but we were on the same floor.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

How well did you know him?