Paul Bonwick sat in the witness stand yesterday and today at the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry taking questions on what exactly his company did and didn’t do to earn nearly $700,000 in fees from BLT Construction, the company hired to build an arena and pool in town.
Bonwick's testimony wrapped up just before noon today, ending the second phase of the inquiry.
This second phase has investigated the allocation of the 2012 Collus share sale proceeds to build fabric membrane structures for recreation facilities at Central Park Arena and Centennial Aquatic Centre.
Bonwick is the former mayor’s brother, a former town councillor and the former MP for the local riding.
Around 2012 he started a company called Green Leaf Distribution, which he used to provide consulting and lobbyist services for the builder hired to construct the arena and pool. BLT Construction hired Green Leaf to provide advice and assistance in securing a contract with the Town of Collingwood to build recreation facilities.
Green Leaf was hired by BLT as an intermediary to bring BLT into contact with third parties that needed BLT’s services.
According to testimony at the inquiry and documents obtained by the inquiry, BLT Construction had a partnership with Sprung. Sprung manufactured fabric membrane buildings, and BLT put them up. Both the Central Park Arena and Centennial Aquatic Centre are Sprung structures built by BLT, which secured a sole-source contract with the town of Collingwood in 2012.
According to the Green Leaf/BLT contract, Green Leaf was also hired to assist in the “staging, backdrop, pricing, and construction details to the extent required,” between BLT and a third party.
Council voted on August 27, 2012, to proceed with building a fabric membrane structure for the arena and pool.
The town signed a contract with BLT on August 30, 2012, and paid them 25 per cent (or $3 million) of the contract price (about $12 million). Records obtained by the inquiry show BLT paid Green Leaf approximately $750,000 (taxes in) on Aug. 31, 2012.
The contract between Green Leaf and BLT stated details of compensation paid by BLT to Green Leaf must be kept confidential.
“I’m a private citizen. We’re supposed to be entitled to some level of privacy in this country,” said Bonwick. “I did not want Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Fifth and Maple knowing what contractural benefits I’m receiving dealing in the private sector.”
John Mather, counsel for the inquiry, asked Bonwick if he considered the $750,000 payment a “substantial amount of money to be paid for a month’s work.”
Bonwick said he didn’t consider it a substantial amount and argued that the work wasn’t finite or contained in three or five weeks. He said he spent years developing “long-term relationships” within regions throughout Simcoe County, the province, and the federal government.
“A lot of that is not dealt through compensation but rather an investment from myself,” he said during his testimony yesterday. “There have been years go into developing something that actually can lend value to a client.”
He said Green Leaf, which included work by himself and Abby Stec, assisted with the strategic approach BLT should take when approaching the town with a plan to build Sprung structures.
He said that sort of assistance was based, in part, on his own “reasonable understanding of where people’s minds are at as it relates to any given issue.”
“I know that we’re able to provide strategic advice in terms of how any particular initiative should position itself in order to advance that particular cause,” he said.
Bonwick testified he couldn’t recall specifics of conversations he’d had with members of council and staff about the recreation facilities or BLT’s proposal.
“I mean, at that point in time, I think it’s important to recognize it was a somewhat relaxed or casual environment, and it provided opportunity to have those discussions sort of in a free-flowing manner,” said Bonwick.
Bonwick has testified he is close friends with Ed Houghton - who was acting CAO at the time of the rec facilities decision - and then-deputy mayor Rick Lloyd. Both Houghton and Lloyd confirmed their friendship with Bonwick in their testimony. Bonwick is the brother of then-mayor Sandra Cooper.
Mather, during his examination-in-chief of Bonwick, asked if Bonwick did anything before the Aug. 27, 2012 decision to turn the town’s attention to the possibility of a sole-source contract.
The recreation facilities were never put to a competitive tender process. Previous inquiry testimony and documents didn’t provide clear information on exactly who first suggested the contract be sole-sourced and why.
The staff report prepared for the Aug. 27, 2012 council meeting initially suggested the town use a competitive bid process to select a contractor for the recreation facilities, but that draft was changed to suggest a sole-source contract for two Sprung-made facilities.
Bonwick said several times in answers to variations of Mather’s questions on conversations about sole-sourcing, he didn’t use the term “sole-sourced” in his discussions with town staff and councillors.
“I don’t know that we necessarily reflected specifically on the term ‘sole-source,’ but certainly the ability to focus in on one solution and deliver a solution in a timely fashion based on the history that council had dealt with over the past two decades,” said Bonwick, later agreeing he was discussing sole-sourcing in all but name.
Several times during his participation in this phase of the inquiry, Bonwick has raised the history of Collingwood councils of the past discussing ideas for adding more recreation facilities to Collingwood.
During cross-examination of Bonwick today, Ryan Breedon, counsel for the Town of Collingwood in the inquiry, pushed Bonwick further on his discussion of sole-sourcing the recreation facilities.
“Obviously, it was important to you that BLT get the contract,” said Breedon, reasoning a sole-source procurement would guarantee BLT get the contract.
“The narrative I was pushing, or trying to communicate, was that council had a solution in front of them, one they could advance in a timely manner,” said Bonwick. “I recall having conversations with members of council either collectively or individually about the history of council and what it’s been unable to deliver [for recreation facilities] over the last 20 years. And here’s an opportunity to embrace a solution that’s one-third of the cost of the other one.”
The “other one” Bonwick was referencing was a proposal prepared by the Central Park Steering Committee (formed at the request of council) for a multi-use recreation facility at Central Park, which the committee estimated would cost about $35 million.
Bonwick testified he did disclose his work with BLT to Ed Houghton, but did not tell his sister about it. He also did not disclose to BLT that the mayor of the town was his sister. He also said he “assumed” then-deputy mayor Rick Lloyd knew Bonwick was working for BLT, but didn’t formally disclose it.
Bonwick said he used his experience in his work with PowerStream to determine he didn’t have to disclose his relationship with his sister.
“The efforts we went through for disclosure did not appear to have any significant relevance during that period of time [the Collus share sale],” said Bonwick, adding that led him to believe there was no need to “continue down that path.”
He said based on the information he received while disclosing his relationship in his contract with PowerStream, there was no conflict of interest related to having a sibling on council.
Bonwick's testimony ended this phase of the inquiry.
The final phase takes place at the end of November with approximately four days of hearings with a panel of experts in the field of municipal governance.
