Thank you, Chair.
I'm going to take this opportunity to move a time-sensitive motion before we continue with the line of questioning today on this very important issue.
I've put the motion on notice as of Friday, May 3.
The motion is as follows:
Given that,
(a) Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a one billion dollar taxpayer fund, is under investigation by the Auditor General of Canada and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner;
(b) A former director of the fund, Andrée-Lise Méthot, helped to send multiple companies in which she has a financial interest millions of dollars, and despite this the government appointed her as a director to the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
The committee hear testimony from the following witnesses for no less than two hours each: the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc; the Chief Executive Officer of Canada Infrastructure Bank, Ehren Cory; officials from the Senior Personnel Secretariat in the Privy Council Office; Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital, Andrée-Lise Méthot.
Mr. Chair, I'm raising this motion today because, once again, the ability of this government to make ethical and sound decisions is in serious doubt. The sustainable development technology fund is embroiled in a scandal in which the fund is under investigation for funnelling millions of taxpayer dollars to companies that its director had a financial interest in. One of the directors, who is implicated in this, is Ms. Andrée-Lise Méthot. Her companies received $42 million from SDTC while she was on their board. This director is also involved in providing companies she's connected to with special COVID payments. Despite these serious conflicts of interest and ethical issues, Ms. Méthot was recently appointed to the Canada Infrastructure Bank board.
As the committee charged with providing oversight of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, it is extremely important that we get to the bottom of this issue, in which the director herself admitted she had conflicts of interest. Canadians need to have trust in their federal and democratic institutions. To this end, we need to hear from Minister LeBlanc, who appointed her. We also need to hear from the officials in the Privy Council Office, and we're proposing that we also hear directly from the CIB and Ms. Méthot herself.
I hope this motion will receive the support of all parties around the table.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.