This week, Chair, Global News revealed two investigative pieces they've been working on.
The first is one I mentioned yesterday. It's on a series of meetings between lobbyist Kirsten Poon and high-level political staff across multiple federal departments. Those meetings aimed at securing $110 million in federal grants for the Edmonton International Airport. These efforts occurred between 2021 and 2022 and involved Poon's connection to Justin Trudeau's cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault, who represents Edmonton Centre. Mr. Boissonnault, in transitioning from his consulting business to his ministerial role, delegated control of his business to Poon, who resumed his lobbying activities.
Now, Mr. Boissonnault gave his former business partner his only client, which was the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority. The minister's influence, of course, is attached to that transfer. This firm lobbied the Edmonton airport authority, an organization regulated by the government on federal government land with board members appointed by the government—the same government Mr. Boissonnault is now a member of. Mr. Boissonnault was collecting payments from the company that was lobbying his government. This, of course, raises incredible concerns with respect to the Lobbying Act, the Conflict of Interest Act and the Conflict of Interest Code for members.
Now there's a second report from Global News revealing that Justin Trudeau's cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault remained listed as a director of the Global Health Imports Corporation, or GHI, for over a year after his 2021 election. Mr. Boissonnault claims that he's had no involvement with GHI since his election, but the company co-founded by Mr. Boissonnault in 2019 after his electoral defeat secured contracts totalling $8.2 million from other levels of government—provincial and municipal—for pandemic supplies.
Now imagine the disadvantage when competing for government contracts against a company that has a member of Justin Trudeau's federal cabinet listed as one of the directors. That's why such a scenario is in fact prohibited by law. I would be remiss not to mention that GHI faced multiple lawsuits for unpaid bills and unfulfilled deliveries, resulting in default judgments totalling over $7.8 million. Allegations of wire fraud were made against Mr. Boissonnault's GHI co-founder Stephen Anderson in one of the lawsuits. Despite winning lawsuits, suppliers struggled to recoup owed funds from Minister Boissonnault's company, which he was still listed as a director for, raising questions about the legitimacy of its operation and the fairness of its bidding process.
Chair, the motion is that:
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h) and in light of new media reports, that the committee undertake an immediate study into Minister Randy Boissonnault and allegations of fraud and contravention of ethics and lobbying laws; that the committee invite Minister Randy Boissonnault, Kirsten Poon, Stephen Anderson of Global Health Imports and the Ethics Commissioner to testify individually, in addition to any other relevant witnesses; and that the committee report its findings to the House.
Chair, I'd like to share the rest of my time with Mr. Viersen.