Former mayor Sandra Cooper was questioned by the judicial inquiry counsel on her interactions with her brother, Paul Bonwick, regarding the Collus sale and an effort to secure provincial funding for local company Amaizeingly Green Products (AGP) at yesterday'’s hearing.
Lead inquiry counsel Kate McGrann asked Cooper about her relationship with her brother and what town business she discussed with him.
Cooper said she did not discuss town business in detail with her brother, instead saying they would usually talk about “family matters” including their “elderly parents.”
Documents included in the Foundation Document prepared by the judicial inquiry show some email chains between Bonwick and Cooper on the subject of AGP, which, at the time, was in arrears to the town for taxes, to Collus Power for electricity bills, and to the Collus Public Utilities Services Board for water/wastewater bills.
The company was also trying to obtain provincial funding.
Bonwick sent an email to Cooper asking to speak with her to review the AGP situation and urging her to send a letter to request a meeting, seemingly the meeting was with John Wilkinson, the minister of environment for the provincial government at the time.
Bonwick later forwarded briefing notes he prepared for AGP to be used in fundraising meetings.
Cooper said she later found herself in the same room as the minister and spoke to him about AGP.
McGrann asked if Cooper told the minister she was working with her brother on the AGP matter. Cooper said she did not, and said there was no reason she didn’t mention her brother.
“The important part to me was getting the message across … not who did what … it was getting the message to the Ministry of the Environment, to the Ontario government to say this industry, this employer, needs some assistance,” said Cooper.
“Did you think it was important the MoE understood who was involved?” asked McGrann.
“They would have been aware it was AGP, of who authored the letter. I didn’t feel that was the focus here,” said Cooper. “It was the focus on keeping the industry going. I didn’t want to lose jobs on my watch.”
When asked whether she knew Bonwick was working for AGP and being paid for that work, Cooper said she didn’t ask Bonwick, and didn’t think about whether or not he was being paid for his work.
As more questions and answers continued, Bonwick interjected, stating he didn’t see the relevance of the AGP conversation in the context of an investigation into the Collus share sale.
“I would argue they [inquiry counsel] are creating some sort of conspiratory link here,” said Bonwick.
Later, Ed Houghton’s lawyer, Frederick Chenoweth, also used the word “conspiratory” to describe the counsel’s questioning. Houghton was the president and CEO of Collus at the time of the sale.
“The questioning approach we’ve seen from the inquiry counsel has only focused on what appears to be a conspiratorial thought, that there’s something going on with respect to the way AGP was approached that is troubling in some way,” said Chenoweth, adding there were more questions to be asked to reveal the truth and the good story behind AGP.
Later in the afternoon, McGrann asked Cooper about the role she played in initiating a valuation process.
An email from Houghton to Bonwick appears to show Houghton writing a draft statement for the mayor and sending it to Bonwick to review.
The letter requests Houghton and Dean Muncaster (former chairperson of Collus board) undertake a valuation of Collus and look at the “positives and negatives of selling the assets of Collus.” The letter further states the request should remain confidential.
Cooper said while she did not specifically ask Houghton to do a valuation of Collus, she asked all department heads to find cost-saving opportunities.
The email was dated Jan. 30, 2011.
“Did you ask him to write a letter instructing him to undertake a valuation of Collus?” asked McGrann.
“Perhaps not exactly those words,” said Cooper. “Perhaps I would have said even Collus needs to look at opportunities, too … Valuation, I may not have said that word.”
Cooper said she wasn’t aware Houghton was discussing the matter with Bonwick.
“My focus wasn’t on – nor that I could – checking people’s emails,” said Cooper.
On Jan. 31, the Collus board met in camera in the morning. Early that afternoon (1 p.m.) Cooper sent an email to her executive assistant with similar wording to the draft Houghton originally emailed to Bonwick, including a statement a valuation be undertaken and it be kept confidential.
There are no minutes for the in-camera meeting of the Collus board on Jan. 31.
Another email included in the Foundation Document shows Bonwick emailing PowerStream president Brian Bentz on Jan. 10, 2011, stating Bonwick would like to meet and discuss PowerStream’s level of interest in pursuing a potential sale of Collingwood’s utility.
Cooper said she hadn’t seen that email until the release of the Foundation Document by the judicial inquiry.
“There were some correspondence that I was not aware of at the time of the correspondence, but have become aware of since then,” said Cooper. “As the mayor, I put my all into it. I was doing a lot of different things. I mean, [Bonwick] was a municipal councillor … Do I have anything to comment about [the emails]? I will await to hear what the commission will bring from this.”
Bonwick was formerly a Collingwood councillor, but was not in office at the time of the sale.
Cooper said she was not aware at this time Bonwick was working with or attempting to work with PowerStream.
Cooper will be on the stand again this morning starting at 10 a.m.
