Public Accounts Committee on March 19th, 2024

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Sir, you were not in flux. You either were on the board of directors or you weren't on the board of directors. A person is either pregnant or not. They're either on the board of directors or they're not on the board of directors. They're not half-pregnant, and they're not half on the board of directors.

You have said that, shamefully, the media have claimed that you were on the board of directors and a government employee at the same time without asking you. Maybe they didn't need to ask you because they foolishly assumed that what you told Parliament on October 31 was true.

Sir, your LinkedIn account says that you were a business owner at Dalian Enterprises from 2001 until present, and you were employed by the Department of National Defence continuously from 1987 until present. Again, to your truthfulness or not, was your LinkedIn account accurate in the description of those timelines?

[David Yeo]

If you look at LinkedIn, it is a non-authoritative source. First of all, it's LinkedIn. It's a web page. Second of all—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Why would we believe what's on the Internet, sir? It's your own LinkedIn profile, sir—

[David Yeo]

If you actually looked at it, you would see—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Why would we expect that you would put accurate information on your own LinkedIn page? That's outrageous.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Genuis—

[David Yeo]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to answer that question, if I could.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Genuis. It is his round of questioning.

We can all hear you quite clearly, so if you could just keep that in mind, Mr. Genuis.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I am getting a little bit excited here because, Mr. “Yao”, you have—

[David Yeo]

It's Yeo.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Yeo or whatever your name is, sir—

[A voice]

Yo, man.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Hold on.

Mr. Genuis, names are important. We all make mistakes, but if you could conduct yourself in a way that shows our witness respect, I would appreciate it.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay. It's “Genus”, by the way.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

That's a good point. I realize—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Since we're insisting....

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

You have a minute and a half left, Mr. Genuis.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Sir, you have on your LinkedIn profile a claim that you were simultaneously working for the government and leading Dalian. You told a committee on October 31 that you were on the board of directors for Dalian. You were, at the time, employed by the government. You subsequently said that no, there was some flux going on.

You clearly were in a conflict of interest, weren't you, sir? You were clearly doing both at the same time. Now you're trying to weasel your way out of it after the fact, but you were clearly in a conflict of interest.

Were you not?

[David Yeo]

Okay, I need to answer the LinkedIn side of it first.

First of all, it's a non-authoritative source and it's on the Internet—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

It's your profile.

[David Yeo]

It did say 1987—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Did you write it?

[David Yeo]

It did not describe all of my service that I have done. I've done 14 years in the reg force, 10 years in the reserves and 20 years as a contractor. I've had 36 years in the department.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Did you subcontract the writing of your LinkedIn profile, sir?