Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 9th, 2024

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

Well, if you got the wax out of your ears, you would hear that I asked about the $750 million approved by cabinet that he took for the green slush fund.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins—

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

I have the same point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins, your actions are encouraging them to be belligerent to the chair, as you're being belligerent to the chair. I would ask you to cease and desist when a point of order is called.

The same goes for you, Mr. Drouin.

I allow members on both sides latitude to probe. There is no question of relevance here. Mr. Perkins was—

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

Rogers. Really?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Mr. Perkins is—

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

Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Just let me finish.

Mr. Perkins is entitled, as all members are, to ask the questions in the manner he pleases. However, his question, from what I can see, is clearly going in the direction of the topic we're studying.

Ms. Khalid, you have a point of order.

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

Yes, it's on the same point of order that was raised by Mr. Drouin.

I don't see how the wax in his ears has anything to do with the questions that are being asked today.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you.

Mr. Perkins, I'll back the clock up. You have the question again. Go ahead.

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

I'll make it simple for you, Mr. Bains, since that seems to be the only way to try to get an answer.

After $114 million went to Andrée-Lise Méthot's companies, you went to cabinet seeking another $750 million for the green slush fund, when 25% of the money was going to Cycle Capital, which Steven Guilbeault owns shares of and was a lobbyist for.

Why did you go to cabinet for another $750 million for such a corrupt organization?

[Navdeep Bains]

As has been discussed before, Sustainable Development Technology Canada is an arm's-length organization. The management oversees the day-to-day operations. There's an independent board that oversees the management. The budget process is debated in the House of Commons and approved by the House, and these monies are allocated to promote and support the clean-tech sector.

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

Chair, I think this witness is in contempt of this committee, since he refuses to answer a question and keeps repeating his written PMO speaking points. That's all he's doing.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Well, we're just starting, and as skilled parliamentarians you'll have repeated opportunities to get Mr. Bains's answer.

Ms. Khalid.

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

Chair, on a point of order, I doubt the member opposite has the qualifications to make those allegations. I believe it is up to you to decide whether somebody is in contempt or not. I, personally, don't think anybody has been in contempt so far.

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

You were just trying to make a ruling earlier.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Perkins, can you ask your question again? We will get an answer and move on.

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

It's very simple. Why did you seek $750 million more for this organization, which was funnelling money to your Liberal appointments, when you knew it was a corrupt organization?

You then went forward to give it more money from the taxpayer to further featherbed your political appointees and the Prime Minister's political appointees.

Are you really that corrupt?

[Navdeep Bains]

Budgets are approved by Parliament. As I said, this is an independent organization that oversees the disbursement of these funds.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Please go ahead, Mr. Drouin. You have six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have to say I'm still questioning why Mr. Bains is before our committee, as both Mr. Perkins and Mr. Cooper got to ask him questions in June. I'm wondering about their competency in auditing and whether or not they are competent to actually ask questions, because you'd think that when you get the time to ask questions, you'd get to the bottom of this. However, this is obviously not about getting to the bottom of this, as we've seen.

I've been here for only about five meetings—

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

This is a joke.

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

—and we're still in the spirit of asking who briefed you, who briefed the witness and who appointed you to the board.

I find it funny, because Mr. Perkins was appointed by a Conservative to a board. He was appointed in 2008. In the press release, I don't see that he previously worked for a Conservative government, but we know he did, and now he has the audacity to ask who appointed whom to a certain board.

The funny thing....

Mr. Chair, I can't stop laughing. It's actually funny, because it's hypocritical.

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

Chair, I have a point of order on the relevance.

We're not here to talk about the BDC appointments. We're here to talk about the Liberal green slush fund. I know that's a confusing thing for MP Drouin—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you, Mr. Perkins.

Again, while I think Mr. Drouin is a bit off topic, he has heard my—