Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Auditor General made it abundantly clear that the blame for this scandal falls squarely on you as the former Liberal industry minister, and the current industry minister, who did not sufficiently monitor the contracts being given to Liberal insiders. The Auditor General found that the Liberal-appointed SDTC board gave $330 million of taxpayer money to companies for which the board members who voted to give out that money had a conflict of interest.
In addition, the Auditor General found that the same Liberal-appointed board approved another $59 million for projects that were not eligible for funding because they were outside of the SDTC foundation's mandate. The Auditor General said at least 10 of those projects did not even produce green technology or contribute to emission reductions whatsoever.
Last week, we had a senior official from the Privy Council office, the Prime Minister's own department, testify as we are trying to seek clarity on Annette Verschuren's appointment as chairperson in 2019. The lack of consistency in witness testimony certainly looks like a cover-up at the highest levels of the current government.
Ms. Verschuren testified that she did not apply for the chairperson role but was called two or three times by you, Mr. Bains, in your former role as industry minister, asking her to take the job. Leah Lawrence, the president of SDTC, also testified that Minister Bains absolutely called Annette Verschuren twice, or multiple times. This was after nearly a year-long selection process had already produced a short list of names for your consideration, but then suddenly Ms. Verschuren's name was suspiciously added, and she was appointed the chairperson on June 19, 2019. We have not been able to find out why there was a last-minute addition. It was certainly the beginning of the culture of corruption at the Liberals' green slush fund.
Ms. Verschuren testified at the industry committee on September 16 that she did not apply for the chair position. As I said earlier, she said you approached her two or three times to take the position of chair of the Liberals' green slush fund—