Finance Committee on Feb. 12th, 2026

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Cory—

[Ehren Cory]

I agree I work for taxpayers and I work—

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

—I'm sorry, but I have to ask, why are you refusing to share your compensation? It is taxpayers' money that contributes to your compensation. They deserve to know, so would you please share it with them?

[Ehren Cory]

My compensation is a matter of public record and I take my duty as a worker for taxpayers seriously.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Cory, your compensation is in the range of $553,000 to $651,000. You are entitled to an incentive, a bonus of 50% of your base. You could be making around $1 million. Could you justify that? What metric justifies that level of compensation for someone who is working in the public sector?

[Ehren Cory]

Madam Chair, as the member points out, I've worked in public service at both the provincial and federal levels for about a dozen years. I take it really seriously and with pride. I think the work that the CIB is doing does deliver value to Canadians. I think what we're doing is blending private finance and the public interest in a way that's unique. I think the benefit to Canadians is very clear.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Cory, I'm asking about the compensation and how to justify it. As you know, we have an affordability crisis. I find it unjustifiable for someone to have compensation of close to $1 million. I am asking you to justify that for Canadians, particularly during this time.

[Ehren Cory]

Madam Chair, I think for all compensation, it's based on markets and competitive benchmarking. My board does that each year and provides compensation. Actually, I should say it recommends to the government, which then sets, through an OIC, my compensation range. I think that's a transparent and fair system to compensate people, not just me but all people, in a way that's somewhat linked to the market but also recognizes that we're doing public service.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Okay, so you think it's justified for you to be getting paid up to $1 million.

[Ehren Cory]

Madam Chair, I think my compensation reflects my work experience, the market and the competitive environment we work in, but it also reflects that we work in public service. It is also well under what CEOs of private financial institutions make.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Cory, I don't think Canadians will buy that.

Madam Chair, I will share my time with MP McLean.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

You have about 45 seconds.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

I'll go back to our—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Go ahead, Mr. Garon.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I'm sorry to intervene during my Conservative colleagues' turn to speak, but it seems to me that refusing to answer a question when the witness knows the answer is a violation of members' parliamentary privilege, Madam Chair.

I understand that the witness can answer however he wants, but here we have someone who is paid with public money and is refusing to answer a question from parliamentarians, when it's obvious that he knows the answer.

Isn't it a breach of our parliamentary privilege when a witness shows such disregard for a committee member by refusing to answer a question he knows the answer to? He himself said he knows the answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Garon.

I'm going to take a moment to consult with the clerks.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

I am just going to refer to the rules here: “Witnesses must answer all questions put to them. A witness may object to a question asked by an individual committee member.”

There was a response, even if it was unsatisfactory to the members.

Thank you for that.

We will continue with Mr. McLean for 45 seconds.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you.

Mr. Cory, getting back to where we were, the issue we have here is that your organization acts more or less as a facilitator for insiders to make a lot of money, including Marc Bédard, who made $33 million by extracting his shares from Lion Electric while the government was, through strategic investment funds and your organization, pumping money into it, more or less lifting it up, with no business case for this whatsoever at that time. People made money. People on the inside made money, including people who were on your board.

Do you have any due diligence to look after these things? Are there any conflict of interest procedures that you need to look at?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

That concludes your time. Thank you, Mr. McLean.

We will continue with Mr. Fragiskatos for five minutes.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Cory, first of all, thank you for your public service at both the provincial and federal levels.

Is there anything you wish to clear up here, sir? There have been a lot of accusations. We just heard conjecture, or what I think amounts to conjecture. Is there anything you wish to put on the table that would allow for a fair testimony to be on the record?

[Ehren Cory]

If it's okay, I'd love to address the question about conflict of interest. It's a very important one. It's one we take extremely seriously.

I'm going to pass it to my colleague, Mr. Duguay, to talk about how we ensure that, in all of our investments, we meet the highest standard of ethical review, due diligence and conflict of interest checks.

[Frédéric Duguay, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Canada Infrastructure Bank]

Madam Chair, to confirm, with respect to the member's question, we do not have an agreement with Lion Electric. I think that has been said several times by Mr. Cory.

As Mr. Cory said, we adopt the highest standards in public sector governance with respect to conflict of interest. All of our directors are subject to not only the Conflict of Interest Act in Canada but also a conflict of interest code for directors that goes beyond the requirements of disclosure under the Conflict of Interest Act.

Before every committee, we provide a very detailed list of all the projects that are submitted to our board for approval. That includes all of the counterparties, so not just the borrower, but also other counterparties that would be part of a project. In project financing, you'll generally have a major construction company or other companies that have material contracts with respect to a project.

Directors review the project list and proactively disclose any relationships they have with any of these counterparties on investments. We manage conflicts in meetings, consistent with the requirements of the Conflict of Interest Act, with recusal, which includes leaving the room and not participating in any discussion or voting on matters.

We have more information on our process and our disclosures in our annual report, as well as on our codes of conduct, which are available on our website.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

For whoever wishes to take this, would this be in line with other G7 countries, such as with the counterpart organization in the United Kingdom?

You have certainly put in place a framework that aligns with the expectations that exist on behalf of citizens, but there are basic standards adhered to and upheld by governments and organizations similar to the Canada Infrastructure Bank. I am pointing to the U.K., but you can give other examples.