Public Accounts Committee on Sept. 3rd, 2024

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

The question is, are you talking to the minister?

[Mitch Davies]

I haven't spoken to the minister on the file.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Okay. Is the minister talking to anyone else at the NRC, to your knowledge?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, I wouldn't be aware of any contact directly from the minister to other members of my team in terms of this file—no, certainly not.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Then at this point you can't even tell Canadians what it means when he says his department will be enhancing “oversight and monitoring of funding during the transition period”. You can't speak to that because you're not speaking to the minister.

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, the deputy minister of the department has appeared here and has spoken to the measures they're undertaking—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That's not my question.

[Mitch Davies]

It's for the department—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Sir, it's my time.

[Mitch Davies]

—to give an account—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Sir, it's my time. Thank you.

You are not able to educate Canadians as to what the minister meant by saying that he will provide enhanced “oversight and monitoring of funding”. You're not speaking with him, so you don't know what he means by that, do you?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, with regard to what we'll do to run this program when it's transferred to us, I've spoken to that in my testimony—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That's not my question. Simply say yes or no.

You know what that means. During this transition period, you're not communicating with the minister. You don't know what “enhanced monitoring” means, do you?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, the responsibility for the files that SDTC has now rests with the foundation—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Right—not you.

[Mitch Davies]

It has a new board.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

So you can't answer that question.

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, the board is—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

He also talked about “a reinforced contribution agreement with ISED”. We know that the existing contribution agreements were extremely violated, to the tune of $390 million going to companies that were simply ineligible or were conflicted.

What is the reinforced contribution agreement?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, that would be a question to be addressed to ISED, who has responsibility for the contribution agreement, and not us.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Right. Canadians are no more the wiser after hearing this testimony today on what changes Minister Champagne has introduced for over the next 10 months until SDTC comes under your review and ambit at the end of Q4. I guess we're supposed to say that we'll just listen to the government. We'll just trust the government to do best. They'll learn from their mistakes and they'll ensure that they will be proper economic stewards of our taxpayer funds. It's a “just trust me” type of response.

You're not in communication with him. Canadians are no longer confident as to how he's complying with reviewing everything that's being funded in the green-tech energy sector. We have no idea, do we?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, I believe that at the time this issue was raised—I'm not sure of the exact date—funding was suspended. A new board was then put in place, which changes everything at the foundation about who directs it, and then we're working on the transition.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

There's another question that Canadians have in mind: How are we going to recover the $393 million that was improperly transferred? What do you say to Canadians? What is the process that the government has shared with you as to how we're going to recoup that money?

[Mitch Davies]

Mr. Chair, the question of recovery was discussed in previous testimony. I believe questions were asked of the deputy minister and other witnesses who were here. Those questions are best asked of the department.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

To your knowledge, has it started? Has the recovery process started?