OTTAWA—Environment Minister Peter Kent says he never talked to Toronto-based media consultant Vern Freedlander about getting a G8 Summit infrastructure project approved through cabinet.

“The conversation did not take place,” Kent told the Star Tuesday, when asked about an email that Freedlander sent to Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty detailing an alleged conversation with the Conservative cabinet minister about a $16.3 million G8 Summit legacy project.

The Star obtained documents from the Town of Huntsville using freedom of information legislation about Freedlander, the vice-president of production at X2O Media Inc. He was paid a monthly retainer of $1,500 for eight hours of work per month to help Doughty convince the federal government to locate the 2010 G8 Summit International Media Centre (IMC) in Huntsville and cover 83 per cent of the cost.

As the Star reported Monday, a Dec. 29, 2008 email has Freedlander saying Kent, his former broadcast colleague at Global Television, told him that cabinet ministers were directly approving infrastructure funding applications submitted to them by their Conservative caucus colleagues.

“It stinks and it’s wafting over the entire cabinet,” NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel said Tuesday during question period in the Commons as she asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he would call a parliamentary inquiry into the $45.7 million legacy fund.

“(The auditor general) made recommendations . . . and we intend to follow them in the future,” Harper replied.

Freedlander has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

“I’m not responsible for what consultants advise their clients, but simply, that conversation didn’t occur,” said Kent, MP for Thornhill. “I have crossed paths with Vern (Freedlander) in Toronto, but that conversation did not take place as described.”

Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who recommended his acquaintance Freedlander for the Huntsville job, said on Tuesday that his email was “false and ridiculous.”

Doughty and other municipal officials named in the documents have not commented on them.

Freedlander billed the Town of Huntsville a total of $16,588.51 from December 2008 to September 2009, including a monthly retainer that worked out to $187.50 per hour.

One email from Freedlander to John Finley, the Huntsville economic development and grants officer, lays out the work the consultant would do for the municipality and his fee.

“I will be available for phone consultation, lobbying efforts, anything you need,” Freedlander wrote in the Dec. 3, 2008 email.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Apart from the email discussing the alleged conversation with Kent and another email requesting the contact information of someone at the foreign affairs department, there are no signs that Freedlander spoke to federal officials about the G8 Summit on Huntsville’s behalf.

Neither Freedlander nor X2O Media Inc. appears in the public registry of federal lobbyists.