44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2024 10:00AM
- Jun/6/24 10:45:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to begin with a slight indulgence of the House. This is a remarkable day in history, the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I just wanted to share a brief story because we probably all have family members who, in one way or another, have a connection to World War II.
My mother's cousin Everett Borgald, my second cousin, from Chester Basin, Nova Scotia, signed up like a lot of young men did in 1942. He ended up landing in Normandy a month after D-Day, in July 1944. He was a tank trooper. He went inland and fought in the brutal battle of the Falaise gap, which the allies won on August 21, 1944, one month after he landed.
Two days later, in the subsequent pushing back of the German army, his tank was attacked by two 75-millimetre shells that pierced the turret and mortally wounded my second cousin. His best friend, who happened to be part of the crew, pulled him out of the tank, but unfortunately he did not survive. He passed away on August 23, 1944. Like many others, I am thinking of family members who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we have, and I just wanted to acknowledge that.
Today we are debating a motion to have the Liberal government produce SDTC documents and send them to the RCMP. SDTC is a foundation set up 20 years ago by a Liberal government to invest in pre-commercialized green technology. The organization was doing good work. In fact in 2017, the Auditor General did a governance audit and found that it was complying with all of the best practices.
Unfortunately, after that, the chair of the board at that time started to criticize the government publicly around the breaches of data and weak privacy policies, appearing before a parliamentary committee. Former minister of industry Navdeep Bains and his office phoned the president of the green slush fund, as it has become known, and asked them if they could get the chair to stop criticizing the government.
The chair was not taking orders from the government and continued to criticize it. After an appearance at a parliamentary committee two days after that, the former minister's office phoned and said, for some reason, it was going to change the chair, and gave two names. The minister's office told the president to check it out. Former minister Navdeep Bains phoned the president personally and said that they were changing the chair because he was saying things they did not like. They had not been able to keep him quiet, so they gave two names and asked that they be checked out.
The president, Leah Lawrence, testified in industry committee that she checked the two names out. The first person declined because they had a conflict. The second one said they were willing to do it even though they had a conflict. The president advised the assistant deputy minister, Mr. Noseworthy, who was the liaison who sat in the board meetings, that it was an inappropriate appointment of a chair because the appointee was conflicted. She was conflicted because the green slush fund was already doing business with her company.
However, Ms. Verschuren had no problem with being in a conflicted position, because she was doing the same thing at an organization called MaRS in Toronto, which I said also helps with the finance. The former minister came back through the ADM a couple of weeks later and said they were changing them. They phoned the then chair, Mr. Balsillie, and told him he was out. Three days later, Annette Verschuren was in, over the stringent objections of the organization. This included its head of communications, who, only a few months earlier, was working in the Prime Minister's Office, and they phoned the former minister's office to say that this was inappropriate. This is all in testimony.
What happened? It was the fourth or fifth appointment that the then minister Bains had made. It is quite a record of insider dealing and trading, the billion-dollar slush fund. The Auditor General audited a small portion, only five years' worth, and released a report this week. The AG found that board members voted to give companies money, and in 186 of the transactions, board members had an ownership interest in the companies. The Auditor General pointed out that in 90 of the transactions, board members did not even declare the conflict of interest, and that money alone totalled $76 million. The situation led whistle-blowers to go to the government a year and a half ago to seek help and to stop the corruption.
The CFO from the industry department is quoted as saying that this is the biggest scandal since the sponsorship scandal. Actually, that was a Liberal scandal as well, in a previous government. The current scandal is huge in terms of dollars, compared to the earlier one. Almost half of all the transactions in the period of time that the Auditor General audited were transactions in which the board voted money to companies that they owned, almost half of the billion-dollar slush fund went to them, feathering their own interests.
Public office holders have to comply with the Conflict of Interest Act, which says that public office holders cannot financially benefit from any job they are appointed to by the government. The SDTC act, an act of Parliament, says that individual board members cannot participate in and benefit from, for them or their families, any decision that financially makes their situation better, yet the directors did it 186 times while the senior departmental official sat in the meeting. The departmental official briefed his deputy minister at the time, who I am sure briefed the minister, former minister Bains, who did nothing for 46 months. The current minister, over the 46 months this was going on, did absolutely nothing until the whistle-blowers went public.
To give the House some idea of the graft and corruption, Andrée-Lise Méthot, a director appointed in 2016 by former minister Bains, while she was on the board, her companies that she has an equity investment in, received $42.5 million from the green slush fund. Before she was appointed to the board, her companies received $143 million from the green slush fund. She should never have been appointed to the board. She had an immediate conflict of interest. It was in breach of both the Conflict of Interest Act and the SDTC act to appoint her.
Annette Verschuren was the chair. We went through that. She has a company called NRStor, which was receiving government money. She was appointed to the board and should not have been. Guy Ouimet admitted in committee that he sat in committee and voted $4 million to his own company, which he owns equity in, and nobody in the government stopped it. That was a direct conflict of interest. Stephen Kukucha, the organizer for the current Liberal leader in British Columbia and a former Liberal staffer to an environment minister, was on the board, and while he was, his companies received almost $25 million.
This is massive corruption and fraud on a scale not seen in Canada in my recent memory, which is longer, I think, than that of some of the people here; at least, I am told that frequently.
What we have is a situation where last night we actually summoned, and it was the only way we could get him, former minister Navdeep Bains to the industry committee. He now works for Rogers, the largest and most expensive cellphone company in Canada, or the most expensive in the world. He was the minister who was supposed to reduce cellphone prices but actually ended up selling out and joining the most expensive company in the world in the last two years.
I think Mr. Bains was actually zooming, but it looked more like he was some sort of avatar that was programmed with only two answers: that it is a public and open process and that he had nothing to do with it. Obviously, if the former minister had nothing to do with it, then he was directed by the PMO to appoint the Liberal hacks, cronies and swindlers to the board.
He betrayed and said he does not have anything to do with it. His chief of staff said that he himself did not have anything to do with it either. They played the Hogan's Heroes Sergeant Schultz card and said, “I know nothing. Talk to somebody else.” It is typical of the government, and everybody in the government. It is never the fault of the person who made the appointment. It is somebody else's fault. It is the “the dog ate my homework” government.
We are asking the House to pass a motion saying that the corruption has to end, and that not only does it have to end but it has to be investigated by the RCMP now that we have the Auditor General's report. I would ask and encourage all members to please show the ethics necessary for us and for Canadian taxpayers, and ensure that any illegal activity is dealt with by the police.
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- Jun/6/24 1:50:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is, as always, an honour to be able to stand in this place to talk about the issues that are so important to Canadians.
If I could, for just a brief moment, talk about something that is so important, and that is today being the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Battle of Normandy. I specifically note, in terms of a milestone anniversary, that there are only a few of those brave men and women, those men who marched those beaches, 80 years ago today, who are still living. Also, I would take a moment to note what an important and defining moment this was in the fight for freedom and how that battle turned the tide in World War II, breaking through what was seen to be an impenetrable Nazi beach. It was Canadians who led the way on Juno Beach. I stand here today to pay tribute to those men who defied the odds and to the so many who made the ultimate sacrifice. I am thankful to acknowledge the 80th anniversary of D-Day here today.
The motion before us is an important one. It speaks to the very fundamental principles of accountability that Parliament should be seized with. Let us unpack a bit of what we are requesting. Parliament is asking, through this opposition day motion, a motion that Conservatives have brought forward, for answers. Common-sense Conservatives are simply saying that it is time to get answers to some very serious, outstanding questions about the actions taken at Sustainable Development Technologies Canada.
Liberals will say it is an arm's-length development fund to support clean-tech investments, but here is the problem. While the Liberals are quick to say that it is an arm's-length organization that made its own decisions, let me highlight for Canadians a very important fact. SDTC is an entity that is still accountable to a minister. That is a fact. When it comes to the president and the chair of that entity, those are appointments made by the Prime Minister, which we see stacked with Liberal friends and allies.
What ended up happening over the course of the last nine or so years is an increasing trend of Liberal insiders being appointed to these high-profile positions and making decisions that led to Liberals getting rich. That is truly what it came down to. In the recent Auditor General report that was released, we see some incredibly troubling allegations.
I am a member of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, and I have watched carefully the development of some of these things. We have been clawing for answers and trying to get the most basic answers from the Liberal government so that Canadians can see where the money went. It is not the government's money, which is something that is so often forgotten. It is not the government's money that is being spent, wasted and making Liberal insiders rich. It is the hard-earned dollars of Canadians that are collected in taxes by the government.
Canadians see millions upon millions of dollars being misappropriated and conflicts of interest that are truly an embarrassment to what is supposed to be the most basic level of accountability. Therefore, we are asking for all the documents to be handed over, with a timeline on that of 14 days, so that Canadians can ultimately get answers. It is simple, and it is common sense. We have introduced this motion to try to bring forward that accountability.
Let me highlight what the Auditor General found that is so troubling at SDTC, the Liberals' green slush fund. There are 90 cases where the conflict of interest rules and policies were not followed. We are not talking about one or two mistakes; we are talking about 90 cases. There was $76 million in projects connected to Liberals' friends appointed to run the SDTC. That is $76 million, which is more money than most Canadians could ever dream of seeing.
Further, the Prime Minister spent $59 million on projects that were not allowed to have been awarded any money. We are not talking about only conflict of interest. Maybe somebody called somebody or whatever the case is, but $59 million was spent on projects that were not even allowed to have been awarded any money. There was $12 million spent on projects that were both a conflict of interest and ineligible for funding. It is absolutely astounding.
There is an instance that ethics committee members had a chance to talk a bit about. It is that the Prime Minister's hand-picked chair awarded herself and her company, a company she was a principal of, $217,000. Can anyone believe that? There was $217,000 given to the chair of SDTC. When we talk about it being a Liberal green slush fund, it truly is just that. It is an entity that, in dozens and dozens of cases, used more than $100 million of hard-earned taxpayers' money, which was paid to the government through taxes, to pay Liberal insiders.
The response thus far has been the minister saying that we should not worry because they have solved the problem. They are folding it into the ministry. We should not worry about it. There is nothing to see here. We have seen, time and time again, that Liberals simply cannot be trusted when it comes to accountability and when it is their management of this organization that led to the disaster we have before us. It is hard to believe, in the context of where we are today, that this even needs to be said, but no one in Canada is above the law.
I know there is a host of issues that Canadians are faced with. With the crime and chaos in our streets, the out-of-control inflation and all these other things, there seems to be not just one new scandal but multiple scandals that break each and every day in this country, and the Prime Minister is at the centre of it, or his hands and his top people are involved. It needs to be said that no one is above the law, and we need to make sure that we are getting answers for Canadians.
When it comes to the role this place plays, there needs to be document production, and the Liberals need to understand that. I encourage the Liberals, especially those on the Liberal backbench, to not forget the simple fact that Parliament is the supreme law-making authority of the land. It is not the Prime Minister's Office, and it is not the cabinet. It is Parliament itself, and the Liberals have a very clear choice on this matter.
That is why common-sense Conservatives have made it so clear that we have to get to the bottom of this. We have to get the answers that Canadians ultimately deserve. That is why we brought forward the motion today. The Liberals may not like it. This is inconvenient and uncomfortable for the Liberal-NDP coalition because we are talking about millions of dollars that has been wasted by going to their friends. However, it is fundamental for the future functioning of our democratic system that we get those answers.
To conclude my speech, while the NDP is quick to prop up the Liberals at every turn, including covering up their scandals, there is a very clear option that the Liberal backbench, the NDP as the fourth party and the Bloc Québécois as the third party have. They can join with Conservatives, not as members of a particular party, but as members of Parliament, who are here to, first, serve the best interests of Canadians. They can stand up and say that enough is enough. It is time to get answers. A basic level of accountability is required in this Parliament and in this country, and Canadians deserve answers.
I will conclude with that. This is a chance for MPs in this place to take a stand for what is right and for accountability, and to ask for the answers that Canadians desperately need. Let us make sure we get those answers for Canadians because that is the very least and absolutely what every member of Parliament in this place should do. They should vote “yes” to the common-sense Conservative motion to demand answers on the Liberal green slush fund.
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- Jun/6/24 2:07:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I rise in tribute to a resident of Kitchener—Conestoga, Stan Smurthwaite, a Royal Navy signalman who on D-Day sailed the SS Cresco, one of almost 7,000 vessels that was the largest amphibian invasion ever assembled, in an operation that changed the course of history.
Signalman Smurthwaite, affectionately known as “steady light” by his D-Day comrades, risked his life to deliver ammunition to the brave soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy. Stan and others were a beacon of courage among the chaos of war.
In 2019, Stan travelled to France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Unfortunately, he did not live to witness today's 80th D-Day commemoration, as he passed earlier this year, at the age of 98.
Stan was the last D-Day veteran in the Waterloo region, so let us not forget our veterans' sacrifice, courage and indomitable spirit. Let us keep veterans like Stan etched in our hearts and memories to remind us that freedom is not free. It is earned.
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- Jun/6/24 2:17:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this year we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
We have a duty to remember the soldiers who took part, those who are still among us and those who have left us or who fell in combat, many of whose names have been lost to history. It took a lot of courage for those young men to land on the beaches of Normandy under Nazi fire and to press ahead tirelessly, even when it meant stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades. Press ahead they did, however, until the enemy was vanquished.
Living in comfort in a nation at peace, we must always keep alive our gratitude toward the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. May we always stay on the right side of history by continuing to defend freedom and democracy today.
To all those fallen soldiers and to all the veterans who experienced the horrors of war and paid the price for their devotion for the rest of their lives, I say thank you. Lest we forget.
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- Jun/6/24 3:17:37 p.m.
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Following discussions of representatives of all parties in the House, I understand there is an agreement to observe a moment of silence to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the first day of the Battle of Normandy.
I would invite members to rise.
[A moment of silence observed]
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