44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2024 10:00AM
- Jun/6/24 10:56:42 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I understand why the parliamentary secretary does not want to talk about the scandal we are debating today.
The issue is this: The government claims to have done something, but it was actually the whistle-blowers who exposed this corruption, because the government was not doing its job. Even after receiving word of it, the government did nothing except call for a study. It was the ethics committee, led by a Standing Order 106(4) motion brought forward by our ethics critic, that called for it to be investigated by the Auditor General. The Auditor General's review was done because of the actions of our side, the official opposition, not because of the Liberals, who are continuing to cover up the corruption.
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- Jun/6/24 12:08:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know my colleague is working very hard at the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology.
I would like him to talk about the fact that, as my colleagues from Terrebonne and Saint-Jean explained in their speeches, we are talking about the damning reports of the Auditor General. We are talking about poor management, and this is not the first scandal involving poor management in the federal system. It is one after another and we can see it building up.
What I see is this worrisome tendency of the federal system to want to take money, try to create programs, manage them poorly, and meanwhile retain the money that should be transferred to the provinces so they can manage their own areas of jurisdiction. Quebec also has its own environmental programs, and we have talked about it.
The Liberals and the Conservatives who followed made cuts, undermined transfers and tried to meddle. In the end, we lost out again, and in 2024 we have an incompetent, non-functional federal system.
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- Jun/6/24 12:37:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in terms of the first part of the member's question, the big scandal here is that the government has let down small businesses and the innovative sector in Canada. The government has discredited start-ups in this country that legitimately rely on SDTC to bring their technologies to market and commercialize new and innovative technologies that will protect the government.
Today we see a clear case of administrative injustice at a level we have not seen very often in the history of our country. The Auditor General's report is like nothing I have ever read. There is case upon case of the government clearly allowing conflicts of interest and for insiders to have money in their pockets at the expense of Canadian companies, which deserve so much more.
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- Jun/6/24 12:51:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is no other member in the Conservative-Reform party who continuously harps on this one issue more than the member. Whatever the issue is, he will just add the word “scandal” to it. Whether it is real or not, that is his job. Members can take a look at this and try to look at what actually transpired, contrary to what the member tries to give a false impression of.
When it was discovered, the government did take actions. Those actions ultimately led to the national Auditor General taking a look at it and issuing a report. When the report came out, there was a consequence. That board no longer exists, and now it is going through the NRC.
I wonder if the member would like to reflect, as maybe he overuses the word “corruption”, because he uses it all the time. I would not mind doing a contrast between Stephen Harper and corruption versus our—
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- Jun/6/24 12:53:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are in 2024, 19 years after the Auditor General's 2005 report that covered the 10 years of the Conservative government. Despite that, Sustainable Development Technology Canada still exists. There is a certain loss of control over public funds. That has never been resolved.
The Conservatives are trying to create a Liberal scandal with today's motion. I would like to make a scandal out of the new Conservative Liberal coalition because, honestly, this issue transcends parties. Ultimately, the federal government's mismanagement is not just a Liberal problem, it is a Conservative one as well.
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- Jun/6/24 12:55:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the response of the government is incredible to Canadians. It is not just about this issue or this scandal, as there have been so many this morning. At the security and public safety committee meeting this morning, they were trying to figure out foreign interference. Certain MPs were involved in foreign interference and foreign entities on our own soil. The member for Pickering—Uxbridge said boo hoo, we should get over it. That was a perfect response.
When we look at this scandal, this epic scandal for Canadians, of course the Liberals say to get over it, that they will fold it into the government and there is nothing to see here. However, there is much to see. Should Canadians get over it?
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- Jun/6/24 12:55:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, obviously, those were very concerning comments raised by my hon. colleague, the member for Bay of Quinte. Of course, Canadians should not get over a question of foreign interference and people acting in the interests of foreign state actors while serving in the House of Commons. This is a scandal that is incredibly important that Canadians should have transparency on. They want the RCMP to be able to review these documents.
Canadians need to be able to get their money back. It is $120 million. Let us get serious.
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- Jun/6/24 1:13:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am surprised that the member spoke almost the entire time and never even mentioned the Auditor General's report, which found that 123 million dollars' worth of contracts violated the conflict of interest rules at the green slush fund, the SDTC. We are talking about 76 million dollars' worth of projects that were given to Liberal friends and insiders. We also know that 12 million dollars' worth were actually ineligible for funding and were in violation of conflict of interest policies.
I have been here a long time, 20 years, and I was here at the tail end of the adscam under the Chrétien Liberals. We have now witnessed, since the Prime Minister came to power, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the WE scam, arrive scam and now the green slush fund scandal, just to name a few. Is this Liberal incompetence? Is it Liberal corruption? Is it Liberal complicity?
We are calling for a RCMP investigation because the current issue is a breach of trust as well as fraudulent behaviour. Would he agree that we have to call the RCMP in here? Is it the responsibility of, and does it falls on the head of and under the accountability of, the Minister of Industry, or is it, again, Scott Brison's problem?
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- Jun/6/24 1:46:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is woefully wrong in the approach he takes. He indicates this was arm's length, and initially it was established as arm's length. However, when we have the Prime Minister handpicking the chair to sit on the board and to excuse numerous, close to 100, conflicts of interest, it is no longer arm's length. It becomes another Liberal-friendly entity, and taxpayer monies were misused, consistently, year after year.
To the member's point that the government reacted swiftly, that is garbage. It did not happen. The Liberals only reacted when they were embarrassed by these whistle-blowers coming forward and releasing details of all the conversations with the ADM. Then it was, “Whoops, we got another scandal on our hands, better tamp this down as quickly as possible, call for investigations.” That is my response.
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- Jun/6/24 2:06:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there has been more explosive testimony on the ArriveCAN scandal. Yesterday, the committee heard from Minh Doan, the former CBSA vice-president who is at the centre of this controversy. Not only was he the person responsible for hiring GC Strategies, but it is also alleged that he deleted 20,000 emails pertaining to arrive scam. When pressed on the issue of the lost emails, he said that he changed the battery in his computer and, poof, 20,000 emails were gone. How convenient.
We also received text messages of a conversation he had with a colleague about his committee summons where he admitted that he could not “throw ministers under the bus” and that there is a gap between what he wants to say and what he can say.
There is still a dark cloud of secrecy that hangs over arrive scam. Who is Mr. Doan protecting? Who is he covering for? Conservatives will continue to ask the tough questions to get to the bottom of this boondoggle of a scandal.
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- Jun/6/24 2:13:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is hard for Canadians to keep track of all the Liberal scandals. Every week, they add new ones. This is a scandal that would define any other government in the history of Canada. I am talking about the mysterious “Randy”, who the government claims is not the same person as the Minister of Employment and the former associate minister of finance.
They might be saying, “These aren't the droids you're looking for”, but this is the “Randy” the government is watching and looking for. The minister holds a 50% share in a global health import and wants us to believe that “Randy” was just some guy who nobody knows the last name of and who just happens to have some big ideas about the company that everyone took seriously.
Who is Randy? Where is Randy? Who got rich and why? Canadians deserve to know. It is time to give up on the cover-up.
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- Jun/6/24 2:19:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberals poison and corrupt everything they touch. In 2017, they inherited a green government program with a clean bill of health from the Auditor General, and then they took it to the depths of corruption only the NDP-Liberals are capable of.
The Auditor General found that Sustainable Development Technology Canada is now a slush fund for NDP-Liberal swindlers, with $123 million having been awarded corruptly, including $76 million that was funnelled to projects connected with the Prime Minister's friends. Conflict of interest policies were not respected in 90 cases. That is $76 million spent corruptly.
A secret recording from a senior government official described this slush fund's actions as “a sponsorship-scandal level kind of giveaway.” Another $59 million was allocated to projects that did not meet the slush fund's own rules. Another $12 million was spent on projects that were in a conflict of interest and/or ineligible for funding.
The Prime Minister is not worth the cost nor the corruption. We are calling for the release of all the documents for this slush fund. Will they let the sunshine in and call the cops, or do we need another judicial inquiry?
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- Jun/6/24 2:55:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for years Canadians have been struggling because of this Liberal government, yet close friends of the Liberals have been profiting.
What is the latest discovery about those Liberal friends? It involves the use of the Sustainable Development Technology Canada green fund. Liberal friends have taken it upon themselves to dip both hands in the cookie jar. According to the Auditor General, $123 million of taxpayers' money was misused. To get to the bottom of this, those documents need to be seen.
Is the government going to give the RCMP access to all the documents so it can get to the bottom of this scandal?
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- Jun/6/24 2:56:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us be serious. Does the minister realize that the Liberal scandal involving Sustainable Development Technology Canada's green fund is reminiscent of the sponsorship scandal?
I am not the one saying that. It was a public official who testified during the Auditor General's investigation and who also said that the government is completely incompetent.
Will the minister rise again and say that he did not see anything or some such thing? The reality is that Canadians want the truth and they want all the documents. Will the government give them to the RCMP, yes or no?
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- Jun/6/24 3:02:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Here is a story that is a bit randyabout a Liberal's excuse that seemed just too handy:Blame others for failures; they just could not resist,but if one is going to blame someone, be sure they exist.
The employment minister continues to blame the mysterious other Randy for his ethical trouble. Meanwhile, after nine years, all of this country's problems have actually been caused by the other Justin.
Will the person responsible for the scandal, the real Randy, please stand up?
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- Jun/6/24 3:50:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals talk a lot about climate change, day in and day out. They use it to justify imposing a carbon tax that does nothing to change the climate but essentially impoverishes Canadians and shuts down industry.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada was doing a good job under the appointees by Harper. As a matter of fact, it was examined by the Auditor General and got a AAA rating, a great record. However, since that time, more recently, the Auditor General has released a report saying that it is a mess. It is a scandal. They are Liberal insiders. This was supposed to be for green technology, but it is a slush fund. They cannot even trace where a lot of the funds are going.
Could the member admit that it is really about making Liberal-friendly appointees and their companies rich and has nothing to do with climate change at all?
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- Jun/6/24 3:52:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the tragedy in all this is that every time there is a Liberal scandal, they quickly cook up a fresh scandal to bury the previous one. There is no end to the mismanagement and lack of transparency.
I think that, in this matter, there are reasonable doubts that justify making these documents available to parliamentarians. Will the parliamentary secretary commit to providing them, as we are requesting? It is important that this be clear, in the name of transparency.
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- Jun/6/24 3:58:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, he cannot deny that the Auditor General released a report. The findings of that report are absolutely devastating and require an in-depth review.
Taxpayers expect accountability. They expect us, as elected officials, to be able to shed light on this type of scandal.
Is he prepared to ensure that we are given access to all of the documents?
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- Jun/6/24 3:59:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have more confidence in our standing committees than some members maybe do. In fact, one may have a standing committee that is effective in building relationships and trying to get to the bottom of everything that has happened. I would encourage members to work with those who are on the most appropriate standing committees in order to take that deeper dive into the situation.
I am not trying to undermine the seriousness of the Auditor General's report. I recognize it, as the government has. The government has taken direct actions, as would have been expected. Just because the official opposition feels it has to attach the words “scandal” and “government” to anything and everything that moves in Ottawa or across the country, it does not necessarily justify every demand the Conservative Party has. It would likely cost into the hundreds of millions of dollars to provide all the documents the Conservatives would want to see, especially if we factor in—
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- Jun/6/24 4:16:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak today.
Nine years with this Prime Minister in power has meant nine years of scandals. The scandals are piling up here in Ottawa at an unbelievable rate. There is a new one every day. This week, the Auditor General of Canada discovered that the Prime Minister turned Sustainable Development Technology Canada into a slush fund for Liberal Party insiders.
This is taxpayers' money, more specifically, $123 million that SDTC awarded to close associates who were not only in a conflict of interest, but in some cases were not even eligible for funding. A total of $59 million of Canadians' money was awarded for ineligible projects, and $76 million was awarded for projects with a connection to Liberal cronies who had been appointed to positions within SDTC.
There is more. The Auditor General's report further indicates that long-standing conflict of interest management policies were completely ignored in 90 of the cases. We are not talking about one or two cases. We are talking about nearly 100 cases where conflict of interest policies were not followed. This is serious.
I was a member of the board of directors of the Port of Québec, and I owned a company. Obviously, the Port of Québec could not do business with my company. It was out of the question. It was not allowed. I do not understand how the members of this organization's board of directors were able to give themselves so much money. It is unbelievable.
More specifically, the SDTC chair, who was chosen by none other than the Prime Minister himself, misappropriated $217,000 for her own personal gain. She blatantly exploited public resources and behaved incredibly irresponsibly with regard to the ethics rules and with regard to the trust of Canadians.
Is no one in the government able to allocate those funds properly? One has to wonder. Who is responsible for preventing this type of scandal? One also has to wonder about that.
Whistle-blowers are the ones who tipped us off. They made sure that we, the official opposition, moved this investigation forward until it reached the point where the Auditor General was asked to investigate to get to the bottom of things.
The Auditor General made it clear that the responsibility lies squarely with the industry minister. This minister failed to adequately monitor contracts awarded to Liberal insiders and, in so doing, he seriously failed in his duty to protect Canadian taxpayers as well as Canadian dollars. He completely neglected the essential task of ensuring that public funds are managed with integrity and transparency. This scandalous situation is equally unacceptable.
The abuse of power and corruption are unacceptable. Canadians deserve much better after nine years of scandals from this Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his government have betrayed the trust of Canadians with every misallocated dollar. We pay taxes. We send money to the federal government in the hope that the federal government will spend it wisely and, more importantly, offer services and products that we could be proud of. That is not the case right now.
They betray our trust with every dollar wasted and every dollar taken out of Canadians' pockets. Public funds are not there to line the pockets of Liberal cronies or to make the rich richer. Canadians are suffering and are having an extremely tough time meeting their most essential needs, namely food and shelter. While hunger and homelessness are a reality for more and more Canadians, while they cannot even live in dignity, while they are faced with choices such as buying food or paying the rent, living in a motel or living in the street, the government is turning public funds into a slush fund for its friends. How could such an abuse of power happen? How could there be such a misappropriation of funds?
The Auditor General noted that Sustainable Development Technology Canada did not comply with conflict of interest policies in a hundred or so cases; spent nearly $76 million on projects with ties to highly placed Liberal cronies in the organization; and spent $59 million on projects that should not have received money. Think about it. There is a special fund that is supposed to be used to help the environment and help the country become carbon neutral by 2050, and it is being used to fund projects that have nothing to do with the green fund. It is quite incredible.
The Auditor General also noted that SDTC also spent $12 million on projects that involved a conflict of interest and were also ineligible for funding. What is more, its chair diverted $217 billion to her own company.
Talk about a total and outrageous lack of accountability. The Liberal government is neither transparent nor accountable. It should always be held responsible for its actions, and it should always answer Canadians' questions, especially when their money is being misappropriated, wasted, invested in a corrupt and negligent way. I think I speak for all Canadians when I say that we need answers. The most important thing is making sure Canadians get answers. That is why we think this matter should be handed over to the RCMP so they can find out the truth.
Once again, we are disappointed for Canadians, disappointed for our country and disappointed in this Liberal government. However, our disappointment merely reinforces and confirms what we already knew. We need to bring common sense back to Ottawa, and we need to do it now. Only the common-sense Conservatives can put an end to the corruption, the irresponsibility and the negligence. Respecting conflict of interest policies does not seem like mission impossible to us. It should not even be an issue. At the risk of repeating myself, it is just common sense.
I took a course in business administration at Université Laval. That was in 2013, if I am not mistaken. Anyone who wants to have a governance role must absolutely ensure that there is no conflict of interest in anything they are going to do. Allocating millions of dollars to one's own companies within an organization like that is completely and utterly unacceptable.
I can guarantee that we will bring common sense back to Ottawa. Serving the interests of those who elected us, representing them properly, answering their questions correctly, ensuring they can live with dignity, all without abusing their money, now that is common sense, and that is what we will stand up for on this side of the House. Nine years of scandals is nine years too long. Canadians deserve to see an end to this long and difficult era of scandals. We want to help bring this chapter to an end. Democracy depends on peoples' trust in their representatives. Without that trust, we have nothing.
Today, we are speaking out against the irresponsible corruption that has taken place at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, an organization where a failure of governance and a continuous cycle of mismanagement have led to very serious violations of conflict of interest policies. This has led to the mismanagement of over $123 million of taxpayers' money. An RCMP investigation is absolutely crucial. As usual, the government claims to be surprised and will waste even more money on overly generously paid consultants to cover up yet another scandal.
We know that the minister was informed years ago that there were concerns regarding Sustainable Development Technology Canada, so why did the problem continue? How did the mismanagement get so out of hand? This investigation is urgent. Action is urgently needed. It is imperative that we take action as quickly as possible. Therefore I move, seconded by the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable, the following amendment:
That the motion be amended:
(a) by replacing the words “14 days“ with the words “30 days”;
(b) by adding the word “and” at the end of paragraph (f), and by adding, after paragraph (f), the following new paragraph: “(g) in the case of the Auditor General of Canada, any other document, not described in paragraphs (a) to (f), upon which she relied in preparing her Report 6—Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which was laid upon the table on Tuesday, June 4, 2024;”; and
(c) in paragraph (h), by deleting all the words after the word “Police”.
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