Arthur Hamilton, a partner at the law firm, Cassels, Brock and Blackwell LLP, is the lawyer for the Conservative Party of Canada. He is testifiying this afternoon in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. He is here to talk about the events that led to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to fire Helena Guergis as Minister of State for Status of Women, kick her out of caucus, and refer some allegations to the RCMP and Parliament's ethics commissioner. Here's some excerpts from his opening statement:
“I confirm that Ms. Guergis and I had to two separate telephone conversations in the morning of April 9. At that time, I detailed the allegations which were being made not only against her but also against her husband, [Rahim] Jaffer. These allegations also spoke to a number of matters which involved Mr. Jaffer's business partner, Mr. [Nazim] Gillani.'
[Hamilton then described how Guergis issued various media statements saying that she has not ever been apprised of the detailed allegations.]
“What no one knew until today is that on the afternoon of April 9, I was contacted by Jaime Watt, the chairman of Navigator Ltd. I understood that Mr. Watt was contacting me on behalf of Ms. Guergis. When Mr. Watt and I spoke, two things become clear. First, he had recently spoken to Ms. Guergis, Mr. Jaffer or both of them.
Second, he knew the allegation that I had explained to Ms. Guergis. Ms. Guergis still maintains that she does not know the allegations. As I have said, I explained them to her at length. Moreover, clearly Ms. Guergis remembered enough of the allegations to brief Mr. Watt, or to brief someone who then briefed Mr. Watt.
… Any suggestion that Ms. Guergis does not know the details of the allegations which were made against her is not accurate. To the contrary, not only was she briefed fully on those allegations by me, but I also spoke in detail about them with Mr. Watt when he called on the afternoon of April 9.