Industry Committee on Jan. 27th, 2022

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Minister, I'm going to ask a third time: When did you find out about this transaction? What was the date?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Fast, as I said to you, as an experienced minister, that transaction was subject.... As you know, I'm trying to be as fair and transparent with you as I can be under the act—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

No, no, you're not answering the question.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I'm trying to be as transparent as I can be with you and Canadians. What I can tell you is that under the act, as you know—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Let me try a different question.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—there are a number of provisions—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

If you won't answer that one, let me ask—

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—that require confidentiality.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Gentlemen, if I may intervene....

Let the minister finish answering, and then, Mr. Fast, you can ask....

I'll give the floor to Mr. Fast to ask his question.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hope this isn't clawing away at my time. We can't afford to have the minister not answer questions but waste the time of the committee. I am here with a serious effort to get to the bottom of this transaction.

I will move on to my next question, because the minister failed to answer that one.

Minister, did you receive a briefing from your officials on the transaction?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

As I said, Mr. Fast, as you're very aware, there are a number of confidentiality requirements under the act, which I'm not at liberty to expand...but what I can say to you and all Canadians is that this transaction, because it involves a critical mineral, was reviewed for national security and was subject to enhanced scrutiny under the guidelines that I published last March.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Did you receive a briefing from officials?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

As I said, again, you are familiar, because you're very experienced as a minister, that I'm not at liberty—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Just yes or no.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—to answer the details.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Yes or no.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

What I'm saying to you—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Yes or no.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—is that the transaction was subject to a national security review.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Okay. I'll move on.

Did you apply the enhanced scrutiny that your guidelines called for?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Absolutely, Mr. Fast. There are not two national security processes. There's only one national security process, which is a multistep process that involves, from day one, national security. I would refer you to the act. Under the act, as minister, the power to investigate, to compel the submission of documents and answering questions, starts from day one. So—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Minister, you brought in—

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—I'm not understanding what you're trying to get at, because what I'm saying is that national security is a multistep process that starts from day one.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Minister, my question is this: Did you apply the enhanced security review that you yourself introduced with a new set of guidelines, yes or no?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Yes, we did.