What's up with Wright Tech?

The logo of the Government of Canada is seen in this screenshot from the main page of Wright Tech's website. (CBC)

The Jaffer-Guergis saga offers more twists and turns than a Russian ice dancing competition, but here's an interesting sidebar about one player in it: Richmond Hill, Ont.-based Wright Tech Systems Inc., a company that (I've learned from its website) specializes in converting organic waste to energy.

One of the allegations against former Minister of State Helena Guergis is that a letter she wrote to her cousin -- who was then the warden of Simcoe County in the riding she represents -- endorsing the work of Wright Tech Systems Inc., represents a conflict of interest. The owner of Wright Tech, we're told, owns a cottage in Guergis' riding, and thus is (sort of) a constituent, in her view.

The crux of the allegation is that this endorsement letter was written just as the company was allegedly about to be taken public by a businessman with ties to her husband, Rahim Jaffer. In fact, Jaffer was said to have been discussing the matter with Nazim Gillani on the night he was pulled over and charged with careless driving, impaired driving and cocaine possession (the latter two charges, of course, were later dropped in a controversial negotiated deal.) In fact, in Gillani's much-discussed "opened the doors" to the PMO email bragging about the success of this meeting, it was Wright Tech Gillani was talking about benefitting from Jaffer's help.

This letter was dated Sept.10 9 -- the day before this now-infamous dinner meeting. Guergis denies she did anything improper in recommending this waste management company to the municipality, and Jaffer denies he stood to benefit in any way.

Today (Wednesday), Wright Tech came up again in the testimony at the government operations committee. There's some suggestion that Rahim Jaffer's company, Green Power Generation Corp., may have been one of the companies Jaffer's partner, Patrick Glémaud, was championing to Conservative MP Brian Jean, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Transport Minister John Baird. Baird, as the minister responsible for infrastructure projects, oversaw green infrastructure funds that may have been the ultimate target of the company's efforts. (Some would call these efforts "lobbying" - Glémaud, as we've heard today, vigorously denies this.)

A second page on the Wright Tech website also displayed the Government of Canada logo. (CBC)

Last week, we noticed that Wright Tech's website was using a Government of Canada logo (wordmark) at the bottom of its home page, among other places. We were curious -- why did they have permission to use this wordmark? What current projects was the company involved in with the government? Did the government know Wright Tech was using its logo?

Colleague O'Malley's calls to Wright Tech were in vain -- no voicemail, even. Emails to the company also weren't returned.

I called Natural Resources Canada, the government department I assumed would have been the natural partner for a company involved in this kind of energy technology. Today, the department confirmed for me that Wright Tech hasn't received any grants, nor entered into any partnerships with the federal government. They have no idea why the logo would be on this website, and they can't think of any other departments who would have had a natural connection to Wright Tech's business.

Further, a spokesperson for Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees fairly strict rules for the use of the government's wordmark, got back to me this afternoon:

"TBS officials responsible for government's official symbols have communicated with Wright Tech to instruct the company to remove the symbol from their Web Site and all other communications where it has been used, unless the company is able to demonstrate that the symbol appears on the company's site as a result of a partnering or contribution agreement with a government department."

Whether or not Wright Tech is one of the companies Glémaud and Jaffer refused to disclose to the committee today, I take from this "cease and desist" order that Wright Tech is breaking the rules in using the government's logo without actually having permission, or a legitimate relationship with the federal government.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

First, a word of thanks to our posters who continue to notice important details on this story and pass them on -- we really do read your comments and follow up where we can.

Last night/this morning, other media revealed the names of the project proposals Green Power Generation was shopping around, and one of these was "BioDryer." Wright Tech wasn't mentioned per se in the Globe article, but if you spend some time on the company's site you can read how "at the core of Wright Tech's organic waste and renewable energy solution, is our patented biological dryer (BioDryer) technology."

I submit that it appears we're on the verge of connecting two important dots here between Rahim Jaffer's efforts, and Helena Guergis' letter.

Very shortly we're hoping to post the executive summaries of the projects Transport and Infrastructure Minister John Baird tabled in the House of Commons last evening. The project summaries were written/signed by Jaffer's partner Patrick Glémaud. The BioDryer proposal talks about the project developer being "Green Rite Solutions Inc.", an "Ontario corporation." Green Rite Solutions is the sales arm of Wright Tech Systems.  

And for those of you who've noted the comment below pointing out that one of the government wordmarks on the site links to the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation that facilitates "international contracting" -- I've put in a call there this morning, and I'll let you know if there's a legitimate connection between Wright Tech and this government organization when (hopefully) they get back to me.