Public Works I.T. Contract Dispute
Don Powell, President of Ottawa based TPG Technology is accusing Mr. Fortier of rigging a $400 million IT contract to Montreal's CGI Group... that's serious stuff if anything is proven.
But based on what I know of the guy, I'm guessing this is just a protest at having lost the contract. TPG says that Mr. Fortier has a connection to CGI Group, so naturally, they want an investigation. I actually agree with them, but I don't think anything is going to turn up. Here's what they've found...
"Mr. Fortier was an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston from 1999 to 2004, during which time he headed the firm's Montreal office.
In March 2004, Credit Suisse was one of the underwriters for a share offering by CGI that raised more than $330 million, and Mr. Fortier was listed in regulatory filings as the primary contact for Credit Suisse.
Investment banks typically underwrite share offerings and other corporate-finance transactions in exchange for fees."
Amm, yea... CGI is a massive IT firm, and Michael Fortier was a major investment banker in Montreal at the time... so seeing his name tied in as a contact for a $330 million share offering is not a huge surprise.
Still, to rule out this complaint, it should be looked into. I just get the impression that they won't turn up anything. But if they do, it should be dealt with, naturally. But if we're going to look into this, I think we should make sure that we're looking into all aspects of this issue...
Just so we're clear on Mr. Powell's motivations here... the outraged President of TPG is Don Powell, right? Or is it "Mr. Donald R. Powell"? This Public Works document seems to indicate that they are one and the same person. Therefore, perhaps it's important to point out that he contributed $1,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada in 2005?
Me-thinks he called in a favour or two... this is starting to look more and more like another Liberal connected attempt at a smear job... in my opinion.
But based on what I know of the guy, I'm guessing this is just a protest at having lost the contract. TPG says that Mr. Fortier has a connection to CGI Group, so naturally, they want an investigation. I actually agree with them, but I don't think anything is going to turn up. Here's what they've found...
"Mr. Fortier was an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston from 1999 to 2004, during which time he headed the firm's Montreal office.
In March 2004, Credit Suisse was one of the underwriters for a share offering by CGI that raised more than $330 million, and Mr. Fortier was listed in regulatory filings as the primary contact for Credit Suisse.
Investment banks typically underwrite share offerings and other corporate-finance transactions in exchange for fees."
Amm, yea... CGI is a massive IT firm, and Michael Fortier was a major investment banker in Montreal at the time... so seeing his name tied in as a contact for a $330 million share offering is not a huge surprise.
Still, to rule out this complaint, it should be looked into. I just get the impression that they won't turn up anything. But if they do, it should be dealt with, naturally. But if we're going to look into this, I think we should make sure that we're looking into all aspects of this issue...
Just so we're clear on Mr. Powell's motivations here... the outraged President of TPG is Don Powell, right? Or is it "Mr. Donald R. Powell"? This Public Works document seems to indicate that they are one and the same person. Therefore, perhaps it's important to point out that he contributed $1,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada in 2005?
Donald R. Powell - Liberal Party of Canada / Annual / 2005 - Sep. 13, 2005 - Individuals - $1,000.00Now hang on one more second... now how did Mr. Powell get access to the House of Commons for his little press conference? "Where: Charles Lynch Press Conference Room, 130F - Centre Block, House of Commons" Since when can an average member of the public, a consultant bidding for a contract, gain access to the House of Commons for a press conference?
City: Ottawa
Province: ON
Postal code: K1Y xxx
Me-thinks he called in a favour or two... this is starting to look more and more like another Liberal connected attempt at a smear job... in my opinion.
Labels: Liberals
posted by Christian Conservative @ 2:41 p.m.
3 Comments:
At Mon Apr 16, 05:36:00 p.m. EDT,
John said…
I find it interesting that all of this election talk is drawing the "skeletons" out of the closet. If Harper can keep the opposition on this smear bender they won't have any ammunition by the time an actual election rolls around.
At Tue Apr 17, 03:32:00 p.m. EDT,
Unknown said…
How do you explain CGI being 25 million OVER TPG and still winning? The technical element, seeing as TPG has been there for 7 years, is obviously fulfilled....so what then? The least amount of letters in the name? Yeah, that must be it...can't be corruption!!! HA!
At Wed Apr 18, 12:28:00 a.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
Actually, to be fair, access to the Charles Lynch Press Conference Room in the House of Commons is controlled by the Parliamentary Press Gallery and is apparently available for use to present matters of public interest. The room is not controlled by the parties or the Speaker. A quick Google search shows it has been used by average members of the public for many different purposes.
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