Jaffer used Guergis's email to push projects

Rahim Jaffer, the former Conservative MP under scrutiny for possible unlawful lobbying of government officials, used one of his wife’s parliamentary email accounts to communicate with at least two ministries about business on behalf of his friends and private companies, documents obtained by CBC News show.

Jaffer sent the emails from an account assigned to MP Helena Guergis, who at the time was the minister of state for the status of women.

The messages show he made good use of his government connections, and on one occasion got an official to expedite his request for government funds for an environmental project.

One set of exchanges from last month was to ask an Industry Ministry official about Canada’s plans for space satellites and about national ownership rules in the sector.

The information was requested "on behalf of some constituents who are friends of Helena and I," Jaffer says in one message.

He asks whether the federal government is interested in technology that allows satellites to track ocean vessels. If so, he says, it "would be positive for commercial development and MDA" — the initials for MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, a B.C.-based aerospace firm that has built several government satellites.

David Pierce, the Industry official, who knew Jaffer personally, replied the next day saying he would call the former MP. In that call, "I was … unable to provide him with any information," Pierce says in a letter from two weeks ago referring the matter to the parliamentary ethics commissioner.

Jaffer's emails with Pierce, titled "Hope you are well my friend!",  have been disclosed to the House of Commons government operations committee, which is looking into allegations that Jaffer used his connections to try to get funding for himself and other Ontario businesses.

Last week Jaffer told the committee that "I have separate business accounts, separate business email — everything. And I never even went into [Guergis's] office for any work-related business."

The emails have also been sent to ethics commissioner Mary Dawson, federal lobbying commissioner Karen Shepherd and House Speaker Peter Milliken — in the latter case, for an assessment of whether parliamentary resources were misused.

Jaffer was not registered as a lobbyist but is accused of acting as one, by presenting himself as such to his business associates, claiming to have government influence, and contacting ministries about obtaining federal funding for various business ventures.

Sought $58M for solar project

In a second set of emails, Jaffer contacted MP Brian Jean, the parliamentary secretary to Infrastructure Minister John Baird, from Guergis's account last summer.

That exchange concerned Jaffer's efforts to get $58 million in federal funding for a $290-million solar-power project in Brockville, Ont. Jaffer was pushing for funding from Ottawa's $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund for the project, being developed by Ontario companies Upper Canada Solar Generation Ltd. and Canadian Solar Inc.

Jean says in the emails that he's "looking into it."

In a third set of emails, sent last May from a joint but private Jaffer-Guergis account to an assistant deputy minister at Western Economic Diversification Canada, Jaffer says "it was great to talk to you yesterday and I look forward to golfing together in June."

He goes on to pitch a request for $700,000 in government funding to help a U.S.-Canadian company test its technology, which reduces mercury emissions at coal power plants.

The assistant deputy minister emailed a colleague eight minutes later to ask that Jaffer's request be treated on a "priority basis."

The federal Lobbying Act requires that anyone who lobbies the government provide regular reports on their activities, including what officials they talked to and on whose behalf. Failure to comply can result in penalties of up to two years in jail and $200,000 in fines.

Jaffer has consistently denied that his activities constituted lobbying, which the act defines as "for payment." He says he never received remuneration for his meetings and conversations with ministers and officials.

Several companies that Jaffer and his business partner, Patrick Glémaud, were touting have said they didn't authorize the duo to lobby on their behalf. Upper Canada Solar said last week it had only ever supplied Jaffer with a quote for outfitting some buildings with solar panels, while Wright Tech Systems, an Ontario waste-management firm, also says it never had financial dealings with the ex-MP.

None of the projects Jaffer proposed ever got federal funding, Ottawa says.