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.
5:55 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I think the governance is of a high standard.
5:55 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I sit on a number of boards. I've been on boards since I was 38 years old.
5:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay.
Mr. McConnachie, how would you characterize the governance of SDTC?
November 8th, 2023 / 5:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Mr. Chair, I don't have an opinion on the matter. I've never attended a board meeting and I've not—
5:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay, that's fine.
Ms. Verschuren, we're here today because there was a breach somewhere. This isn't an accusation, but there was a breach, and that's why we're all sitting in this room today. What was the breach?
5:55 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
The RCGT report basically identified that the fact-finding exercise did not reveal any clear evidence of wrongdoing or misconduct at SDTC, but it identified areas where we could improve. Many of those areas were presented in that RCGT report—some of which we found were not accurate—and we tried to fix those things at the time we received the report.
I think in your material, you see our response. We tried to get that response in to the government to respond, because we felt some of these accusations were....
5:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
So the governance of SDTC is exceptional, and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton has made mistakes. Their report was inadequate, and now you're responding to their inadequacy. Is that correct?
5:55 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
No. We responded. We responded and made adjustments to identify the areas we felt were not accurate.
5:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I think what I was.... If I may—
5:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
We are implementing changes to conflict of interest. You're right. They're related to better disclosure in terms of consultants, better minuting in terms of when conflicts have occurred and what their nature is, and, as mentioned, our ethics adviser.
Yes, we are making improvements. We're implementing them.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Ms. Lawrence.
Thank you, Mr. Villemure.
Next is Mr. Green for six minutes. Go ahead.
5:55 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you.
I'm trying to better understand the situation going back to the COVID payments. You referenced there were 140 companies that were prerevenue. I think that was the term you used.
Was NRStor prerevenue when it was approved for the original round of funding?
6 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
The project was prerevenue, yes, by many years.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
It had been in operation for four or five years without any revenue.
6 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
It was built over four or five years. It was a very complicated compressed air energy storage project—
6 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
There were about four or five.
6 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
On the project.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Sure. The funding you received was for the four or five employees.
Do you receive a salary from NRStor?