Information & Ethics Committee on Nov. 20th, 2025

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

We're back. We're going to start the second hour with our guest.

I'm going to begin with Mr. Majumdar for six minutes.

Go ahead, sir.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate your testimony today, sir.

I understand that politics and business can sometimes be a messy business, and the point of the ethics screen, ethics standards and the Conflict of Interest Act are to try to ensure that the public interest is best served, as you well know, and that public officials serve with integrity.

Some comments were made about Mr. Wright. I knew him a long time. He was one of the most ethical people we know. The firm he represented was much more narrowly focused than the firm that Mr. Carney came from, which is very broad and affects a variety of sectors across the country. I think it's a very different standard for a prime minister who decides versus a very senior adviser who advises.

In the United States, the expectation of public office holders is to force their officials to sell all their interests and give a very attractive tax rollover so that there would be no suspicion of conflict, which is something that the Clerk of the Privy Council did. The Prime Minister clearly had a different idea for himself.

In the context of what is the formal process for screen versus the informal process for screening, we're really trying to get, in this committee, down to the nub of where the general application ends and where a disproportionate interest begins.

I say this with great affection to those who serve, but Mr. Sabia, Mr. Carney, Mr. Hodgson and you, Mr. Blanchard, all know the same people. You come from the same investment world. You have many of the same friends.

Who's screening who here?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

Throughout my 30‑year career, I've always held myself to the highest ethical standards possible.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

I was just curious to know who is screening who among all four of you.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I can assure you that I apply the highest ethical standards possible in my government duties, as I have done in all my previous positions, including at the law firm and as Canada's representative—

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

I appreciate the history that you bring to the table and the kind of value that you provide.

Excuse me. I tried to speak in French, but I speak only a bit of the language.

My apologies to the translator. Who is screening who among the four of you?

I understand that all four of you believe that you are serving the public interest. You've come from on high to serve the people of Canada. We should be grateful, but this is a very small world of investment institutions. They all operate on major sectors that are critical to the success of Canadian workers.

Among all of you, who's screening who?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

For each individual whom you referred to, my response was quite clear. These individuals have had impeccable careers, both in the private and public sectors.

These people have held themselves to the highest ethical standards possible, which—

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Okay, I appreciate that. Maybe now I can get a clear answer on who's screening who, rather than an advertisement on pedigree, which is really not what I'm interested in.

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I have a point of order, please, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Go ahead, Ms. Church. I know what your point of order is.

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

It's that the question was asked twice and on two occasions, the witness has been unable to answer.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Okay.

Monsieur Blanchard, are you able to directly answer Mr. Majumdar?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

His question isn't related to the application of the screen. I'm happy to answer him. However, when he asks me who screens whom, I tell him that, in everything that I do—

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

You're using my time, sir.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

—I hold myself to the highest standards possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Wait a moment, Mr. Blanchard.

Mr. Majumdar, I stopped the timer.

Please ask your question. I'll now restart the timer.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Thank you.

I asked a clear question about who's screening who, including the Prime Minister, so it's directly related to the topic here, but we didn't get an answer, twice.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I gave you an answer, but you don't like it.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Duff Conacher, the head of Democracy Watch, has described this Prime Minister as potentially the most conflicted in Canadian history. He has over 100 conflicts of interest hanging over his head in every single decision he takes, in private, in cabinet, in meetings with public officials and in accountability with the public.

Every commissioner who has come before this committee has complained that the government hasn't resourced them enough to do their jobs. There's a cloud of uncertainty and corruption over the Prime Minister in massive decisions, from renewables to housing to energy to infrastructure, all things he has not divested himself from and in which we're not confident he is being appropriate with his disclosure.

Is he trying to have his cake and eat it too, or are we being unnecessarily silly about who's screening who, what, where, what's being listened to, without actually providing the kind of transparency Canadians deserve?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Monsieur Blanchard, please go ahead.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

We're trying to figure out who said what. For my part, I can simply tell you that the Federal Court of Appeal rejected virtually all Democracy Watch's claims regarding a number of ethical issues. This decision was handed down in 2018. It's the one that I referred to earlier. Those are the facts.

We're now discussing the situation of the Prime Minister. The measures imposed in this case uphold and apply the highest ethical standards in the world. I repeat—

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Thank you for that. Those standards, as you know, were established by Prime Minister Harper and, indeed, Nigel Wright.

I have a quick question. The Prime Minister declared on the floor of the House of Commons that he texts the American President. Who screens those texts?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

The Prime Minister holds himself to the highest ethical standards, the strictest ethical standards possible. In his communications with the President of the United States, I'm convinced that he—

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Who is screening his communications with the American President in the context of an $80-billion deal that was made with Westinghouse? Is there any way to actually understand what the Prime Minister did?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

We will have to come back to that, Mr. Majumdar. I'm sorry, but the time is up.

Mr. Fergus, go ahead for six minutes, please.