Evidence of meeting #147 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.)
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Thank you.
I will follow along with that line of questioning.
Again, I'm new to this—
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
Me too.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
—but I have glanced through the Auditor General's reports. The one I'm looking at is where they examined 58 projects. Of those 58, they found that 10 were ineligible, and they estimated that 10% of the rest of the projects they didn't analyze carefully were also ineligible.
First of all, was this during your tenure on the board?
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
I was on the board for five years.
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Yes. However, I'm not sure when those were happening. I'm wondering about this. Ms. Sinclair-Desgagné was talking about approved projects that didn't seem to meet the criteria, as the Auditor General found. I'm wondering how that can happen and whether you were on the board or not.
Maybe you can answer that question first.
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
I want to make an important point, one that was raised at other committee meetings. I took the time to review a lot of the testimony that was provided.
The board proposed business plans to the government and often called for an update. Organizations do change over time. I gather from the Auditor General's report that those updates weren't done in a structured way.
That said, I can tell you that I and other members of the board asked a number of times for an update because the situation was changing.
The clean tech sector is vastly different than it was 20, 10 or even five years ago. Back when I started in this field, only 200 companies in North America were working on clean tech. Today it's thousands.
Changes were proposed to the government and the minister in charge. We were given the green light to go ahead with the changes, but as I understand it, they weren't made in accordance with the established process. That's what I meant when I said that it didn't adhere perfectly to the criteria.
That is what I understood from the Auditor General's report, and that is what I can speak to.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
That is your time, unless you have a very quick question.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Perkins is up next.
You have five minutes.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Based on your testimony here today, companies that Cycle Capital invested in—and you're the partial if not full owner of Cycle Capital—received over $30 million of investment from SDTC while you were on the board. You were the single biggest beneficiary of SDTC money while sitting on the board. Now, you're aware that the SDTC act, which applied to you, says that board members cannot themselves benefit, nor can their family members.
Isn't that benefit contrary to the SDTC act?
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
What you're saying is not true.
Of the roughly 250 proposals that were examined during my five years on the board, four Cycle Capital Management companies received $10.4 million. I declared my conflict of interest in relation to those four companies. I followed the governance protocol. I recused myself from the discussions and I had no interaction with—
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I'm sorry, but Spark Microsystems alone received $10 million from SDTC while you were on the board. That's $10 million just in one company.
Now, I will ask again—
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
Spark Microsystems—
Conservative
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
No, sorry—
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Order.
Ms. Méthot, you'll have an opportunity to answer once Mr. Perkins has asked his question. If not, I'm sure another committee member will give you a chance to answer. Sorry, but that's how things work here. This is Mr. Perkins' time, and he is the one asking the questions.
The reason you're here is to answer the committee members' questions. So far, things have been fine. The two or three times you weren't able to answer a question, another committee member gave you a chance to do so. I'm sure that will be the case again.
Mr. Perkins, you have—
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
May I ask a question, Mr. Chair?
Founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital Management, As an Individual
Mr. Chair, when a question contains false claims, it's not a question, it's a lack of respect. It's very aggressive.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
What you just said is very serious. You'll have an opportunity to respond.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
I hope you can see that I'm doing my best, Ms. Méthot.
Go ahead, Mr. Drouin.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
With all due respect to my fellow members, I want to be sure that, as chair, you are making certain that the question and answer process is taking place properly. If false claims are being made, I hope the witness will have the opportunity to answer appropriately. That's all.