Sam Hamad received donations from firm tied to Marc-Yvan Ct

A string of emails obtained by Radio-Canada's investigative program Enqute show former Liberal politician and disgraced party fundraiserMarc-Yvan Ct helped raise political financing for veteran Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad, currently president of theQuebec Treasury Board.

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The emailsdemonstrate that for his part, Hamadwas a source of strategic information for Ct's firm and helped advance hisagenda with the Charest government.

Until Ctwas arrested onfraud and corruption charges two weeks ago, hewas vice-chairmanof the board of directors atPremier Tech, a company specializing in environmental technology and horticultural products, based inRivire-du-Loup, Que.

In 2010, Premier Techwanted to buy a competing firm, with financial help from Investissement Qubec the province's business development agency.

Premier Tech is considered an economic powerhouse in the LowerSaint-Lawrence region and has received dozens of millions of dollars in grants from both the province of Quebec and the federal government.

Internal company emails show Hamad, who was labour minister at the time,pushed hard to get government help for Premier Techand provided confidential information on the Treasury Board's deliberations.

• From: Yves Goudreau (vice-president, corporate development, Premier Tech):
• To : Marc-Yvan Ct (vice-chairmanof the board, Premier Tech)
• To : Jean Blanger (president and C.E.O, Premier Tech)

"The lady of the Treasury Board is not easy in these difficult budgetary times and did not fold, even with pressure from certain people close to PT (Premier Tech).

We've got to go for the ultimate solution: Mr. Charest. When we look at the attitudes of the president of IQ (Investissement Qubec) and the lady of the Treasury Board (Michelle Courchesne), there's no other choice. What do you think M-Y (Marc-Yvan)?"

• From: Marc-Yvan Ct(vice-chairmanof the board, Premier Tech)
• To: Yves Goudreau (vice-president, corporate development, Premier Tech)
• To: Jean Blanger (president and C.E.O., Premier Tech)

"Jean, I remind you that Sam offered his help to convince the Treasury. Sam sits at the board, which isn't the case with all ministers. I'm waiting for Sam to get back to me by the end of the day. He'll speak to Daoust* and maybe Bazin**. When we next move, it will have to be systematic, co-ordinated and muscular, as high up in the state as we can go () Jean, as we convened yesterday, I'll report to you as soon as I hear back from Sam.

Marc-Yvan Ct

*Jacques Daoust was the president of Investissement Qubec

** Jean Bazin was chairmanof the board of Quebec's investment agency, the Socit Gnrale de Financement. The SGF was merging with Investissement Qubec at the time.

Back and forth

The morning after this email exchange, Ct got in touch with his Premier Tech colleagues again.

Ct informed them that "his friend" (Hamad) had reported the results of two calls he'd made to the Minister of Economic Development, Clment Gignac, and the president of Investissement Qubec, Jacques Daoust.

• From: Marc-Yvan Ct (vice-chairmanof the board, Premier Tech)
• To:Jean Blanger (president and C.E.O, Premier Tech)

"My friend just reported to me about two phone calls made today. He first spoke to Daoust

The second phone call was to Gignac" ()

Thatemail's conclusion shows the secretive nature of these calls.

"P.S.," it said,"I'm sending this only to you in order to protect our friend."

Unlike his colleague Yves Goudreau, Ct never declared himself as a lobbyist for Premier Tech.

'They broke the lobbying law in Quebec'

CBC/Radio-Canada showed these emails to Denis Saint-Martin, a political science professor at Universit de Montral.

"There is clearly a breach in the rules," Saint-Martin said. "They broke the lobbying law in Quebec."

"The law does apply retrospectively, and I believe the lobbying commissioner would be well within their right to investigatethis affair in greater detail."

Saint-Martin said there are problems in how some information was shared.

"The worst is that the emails show Mr. Ct and some directors of the Premier Tech company had privileged information about the ministers discussing the project to support this company."

In the end, Premier Tech did not need Investissement Qubec's participation, and its plans to acquire another company were abandoned.

Hamad named economic development minister

Former premier Jean Charest named Hamadminister of economic development in September 2011.

At that time,Premier Tech returned to the government with requests for financing, both fromInvestissement Qubecas well as fromHamad's ministry.

Two and a half months later, in January 2012, Premier Tech receivedpositive responses to both its requests.However,the company wanted more money, and in an email to his colleagues,Ct wrote that he would "start the process."

A week later, in an emailfromCt to the president of Premier Tech, Ctreported havinghad breakfast with Hamad.

• From: Marc-Yvan Ct (vice-chairmanof the board, Premier Tech)
• To: Jean Blanger (president and C.E.O., Premier Tech )

"At 7 a.m. this morning I met our friend for an update. I'm going to try to reach you later to tell you the state of things. I want to do it on a regular phone call."

The next morning, Hamad's assistant chief of staff wrote to Premier Tech vice-president of corporate development,Yves Goudreau.

• From: Sam Hamad's assistant chief of staff
• To: Yves Goudreau (vice-president, corporate development, Premier Tech)

"We worked hard, you'll get news from the regular channel soon."

• From:Yves Goudreau ((v.p., corporate development, Premier Tech)
• To: Sam Hamad's assistant chief of staff

"Positive-negative?"

Hamad's assistant chief of staff answered, briefly: "We started from very little, but we worked very hard to avoid the status quo."

Premier Tech gets its funding

On May 7, 2012, then-premier Jean Charest officially announced Investissement Qubec's$11-million loan, as well as an $8-million grantfrom theEconomic Development Ministry.

Hamad was present at the announcement.

This help from Quebec was in addition tofinancial assistance the company received from the federal government. Premier Tech committed to create 100jobs, and it told CBC/Radio-Canadait had largely surpassed its objective.

For political scientistDenis Saint-Martin, Ct's privileged access to Hamad was significant.

"He (Sam Hamad) was not very careful, and he was in a conflict of interest."

Saint-Martin said the Enquteinvestigation reveals a big problem.

"If entrepreneurs have the impression they can gain political connections to advance their economic interests, this creates a problem, making entrepreneurs depend on politicians for things they could get without political connections. Because they've got good projects they could make happen without a political boost," he concludes.

The backdrop: political financing

Among the emails obtained in this investigation is one datedSeptember 2008.

Yves Goudreau and Marc-Yvan Ct wrote to each other about a fundraising cocktail for Sam Hamad's riding.

• From: Yves Goudreau (vice-president, corporate development, Premier Tech)
• To:Marc-Yvan Ct

"For Sam's fundraising evening: did we finance because I never got an ask?"

Yves

• From : Marc-Yvan Ct
• To: Yves Goudreau (vice-president, corporate development, Premier Tech)

"For Sam's cocktail, there has to be a significant contribution. I intend to speak about it to Mr. Blanger tomorrow."

Marc-Yvan

According to our research, some Premier Tech directors and administrators and their family members donated more than $20,000to the Quebec Liberal Party between 2008 and 2012.

Some made their donations in Hamad's riding, even though they do not live there.

Ct and his immediate family gave more than $17,000to the provincialLiberal Party in the same timeframe.

In answering CBC/Radio-Canada'squestions, Premier Tech president Jean Blanger conceded Ct should have registered as a lobbyist. Blangerstressed thatCt quit the company following his arrest two weeks ago.

Premier Tech also saidthe contributions of its directors and family members were marginal and legal, and the company did not know about the contributions made by Ct and his family.