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.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Thank you for that. I'm asking questions. I'm not asking for any editorial, Madam. This is my time.
5:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
We will provide the information—
5:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
As we have already—
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
I have the floor, Madam. Ms. Lawrence, I have the floor.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Mr. Brock, you have the floor. Ask the questions, please.
Ms. Lawrence, we're trying to keep to one person talking at a time.
5:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
That's understood, Mr. Chair.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Ms. Lawrence, will you table all of the emails regarding your concerns about the appointment of Ms. Verschuren as the chair of the board, between you and the ministry, ministry officials, chief of staff, PMO and PCO? We have evidence that you felt there was definitely a conflict of interest on her appointment. Will you table all of those emails between you and the government?
5:45 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I did advise the chair to contact the Ethics Commissioner. She did that. Of course, we can make available that information.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
You have one more minute, Mr. Brock. We're in the six-minute round.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
That's wonderful. Thank you so much.
I want to get into some questions for you, Mr. McConnachie.
It appears as if you want to substantially backtrack on the captured words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs you used in recorded conversations. That's real evidence. When you're dealing with evidence.... Sometimes you have allegations, and sometimes you have real evidence. This is real evidence. These are your words.
When I look at a number of quotes—I don't have all them; I know we're talking about several minutes, if not hours—there's no suggestion in any of the things you said to the whistle-blowers that qualifies your statements. You want to impress upon us, here at committee, that these were speculations on your part, but there's nothing here that says “speculation”. There are very clear concerns you have that this company, SDTC, was definitely mismanaging—
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Mr. Brock, that's the minute. I'm sorry. I have to keep it tight here.
Go ahead, Madame Fortier.
You have the floor for six minutes.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Verschuren, I'm going to ask a question. You'll probably be very surprised by it, but I need to better understand your background and how you got where you are today.
Do you think you would be here today, taking questions like this from the Conservatives, if you had donated $1,675 last year to Pierre Poilievre instead of Jean Charest?
5:45 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I don't know. I contribute to the Liberal and Conservative parties on an equal basis.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Can you share a bit about how you've served throughout government? I understand you've served for a long time on different boards.
5:45 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I'm a farmer's daughter from Cape Breton. My parents are Dutch immigrants who came to Canada because the Canadian soldiers liberated them. I'm the middle child of five. I went to St. FX and got my business degree. I started working on the privatization of—
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Can you link to the government appointments you've had since then?
5:45 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I did the national science and technology committee for Brian Mulroney and the North American Competitiveness Council for Stephen Harper. I was an economic adviser during Flaherty's response to the 2008-09 crisis. I worked—
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
You've been the chair of many boards in many past governments.
5:45 p.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
I believe I have a civic responsibility. It doesn't matter who the prime minister is. I contribute to our country, and I think it's extraordinarily important to do that.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Thank you very much. I needed to know how long you'd been doing this. So this isn't new. You have experience.
I'd now like to talk about contribution agreements. We haven't talked a lot today about the contribution agreement processes and how they're signed.
Could you reassure us about your practices in terms of contribution agreements? Are there any challenges or changes that need to be made? Have you made any changes to ensure that you have proper contribution agreements?