OTTAWA - A parliamentary committee looking into the West Block affair is grilling Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis.
Paradis insists he didn't talk about government contracts at a Conservative fundraiser in Montreal in January 2009, when he was public works minister.
A Montreal construction boss says he won a $9-million contract to renovate Parliament Hill's West Block after paying a Conservative-connected businessman $140,000.
The construction boss, Paul Sauve, later threw a fundraiser for the Conservative riding association in the Montreal riding of Bourassa, at which Paradis was the guest of honour.
Sauve's company went bankrupt a year after getting the contract and lost the job.
The RCMP is now investigating the West Block contract and a parliamentary committee is hearing witnesses on the matter.
