Evidence of meeting #91 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was project.
A video is available from Parliament.
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President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Yes, the team put together the list, and we provided them in particular related to certain reviews related to conflict of interest, as well as other items.
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay.
Mr. McConnachie, how long was the initial fact-finding exercise process supposed to take place?
November 8th, 2023 / 5:05 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
The first phase of it was contracted for approximately eight weeks—about half of that being field work.
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay. Forgive me if you've already testified on this. Did RCGT and ISED sit down with the whistle-blower and review the allegations?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Yes.... I'm sorry. Can you reframe the question? I'm not sure I quite understood.
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Did you sit down with the whistle-blowers, with ISED, and review the allegations?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Yes, absolutely. First of all, I reviewed the extensive binder that the complainant had created. Then, as I mentioned in my opening statement, I had almost weekly meetings with them throughout the process.
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NDP
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
No. The documents were provided to ISED in February.
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Yes.
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NDP
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
I'm sorry, but maybe I'm not understanding. What documents are you referring to?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
ISED's involvement in this exercise came about when PCO had referred the whistle-blowers' documentation to us. It was very large—an approximately 345-page binder—that we had received on February 16. After internally reviewing that material, the decision was made to launch a fact-finding exercise.
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Did you speak to the deputies, the PCO, or the minister directly or indirectly between March and September?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
I did not, no.
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Not at all. I spoke to the deputy minister, yes, of course—I report to the deputy minister— but I've had no engagement with the minister or his exempt staff.
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
What was the ISED RCGT report or PCO opinion of the Osler investigation that you said was a whitewash?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
We've had minimal discussions. I certainly never discussed it in any degree of detail with PCO. But we had received the debriefing from the SDTC committee that had—
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
What was the nature of your discussions, then, with ISED or RCGT?
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Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Frankly, ISED was not involved in the Osler review. We didn't have visibility into the methodology or any real details—
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NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Lastly, were your reports back and forth verbal, on the phone, or in emails?