Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 9th, 2024

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

He's proud of being a radical.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Please. This one I will allow. These are statements that we hear on the floor.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

You guys have established...and you guys keep repeating those statements. I'm not sure why you think it is okay, within committee, to repeat those and to call them credible. They are not credible.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I didn't weigh in on whether they're—

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

You just did, Chair. You just did.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I said they're echoing what we hear in the House of Commons, which is permitted, ergo it's permitted here.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I would appreciate it if the member redacted those comments.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Ms. Khalid, that's not your call.

Mr. Perkins—

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I'm asking you to do it, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Pardon me?

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I'm asking you to ask the member to redact those comments, because they are absolutely unreasonable, impolite and against our democratic institutions.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Ms. Khalid, I have ruled that they are in order. Mr. Perkins has the floor.

You have the floor, sir.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

You don't remember meeting with radical Liberal Steven Guilbeault. Do you remember meeting with a fellow named Gerald Butts in those meetings, who was working in the PMO? He's listed as meeting with you on this at the same time.

[Navdeep Bains]

As you know, when I was made minister in 2015, Mr. Butts, the individual you mentioned, worked for the Prime Minister's Office.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Those meetings were about funding Cycle Capital fund four—that's what's listed in the public thing—and he met with you. EDC, after those meetings, then invested in Cycle Capital fund four. That happened fairly quickly.

Do you remember having those discussions about having Gerald Butts and the now radical environment minister lobbying you to get funds for Cycle Capital, whose founder was on the board that you appointed, from EDC?

[Navdeep Bains]

As I said before, Sustainable Development Technology Canada is an arm's-length organization. As you mentioned at the beginning, budgets are approved through the parliamentary budget process.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

On October 19, only 14 days after some of those meetings, EDC announced $145 million for that. You don't recall any of that, just like you didn't recall anything when you were at the industry committee.

Is that correct?

[Navdeep Bains]

Could you repeat the question, please?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

No, I won't repeat it.

One of the last things you did as minister, after all of this corruption, was take forward another $750 million for the green slush fund, which was announced a month before you left the job to go and work at CIBC, and now you're at the most expensive cell phone company in the world, Rogers.

Can you tell me—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

—with all that corruption going on—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

—why you sought $750 million more of taxpayer money?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins, there is a point of order.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

What's the relevancy? The member who is before us is not here to answer about his future life but to answer about SDTC, so—