Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for coming today and for their testimony.
Mr. Chair, I would like to take the opportunity at this moment to move a motion on a very urgent matter. I tabled this motion last week, and it has been distributed to all the members of the committee in both official languages. I move:
Given that
a. Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a $1-billion taxpayer fund, is under investigation by the Auditor General and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, and
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;
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the committee order the Canada Infrastructure Bank to provide the committee, within seven days of the adoption of this motion,
a. The resignation letter of Andrée-Lise Méthot,
b. A comprehensive and detailed summary of the projects and funds that she oversaw during her time on the CIB board, and
c. Any internal communications regarding or relating to her resignation from the board;
And, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee call for the following witnesses to testify before the committee for no less than two hours each:
a. Andrée-Lise Méthot, founder and managing partner, Cycle Capital,
b. Jayne Huntley, director of appointments, PCO,
c. Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, and
d. Ehren Cory, CEO, Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to take a few moments to remark on this motion.
Sadly, it is no surprise that we see yet another instance of mismanagement and waste from the Liberal government. The Auditor General's report, released earlier this week, is truly shocking. She assessed the extent to which there were ethical violations and mismanagement at SDTC, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, what we call the government's green slush fund. According to the CBC, her report found that SDTC “violated its conflict of interest policies 90 times, awarded $59 million to 10 projects that were not eligible and frequently overstated the environmental benefits of its projects.”
This is shocking evidence of gross mismanagement by this fund and by this government. It is incumbent upon this committee to get to the bottom of this for Canadians. It is also essential that we find out how a member of the board of directors at the green slush fund, who has admitted to several of these 90 conflicts of interest involving millions of taxpayer dollars, ended up being appointed to the Liberal Canada Infrastructure Bank. It is completely unacceptable that those who repeatedly violate conflict of interest policies should be promoted to plum government positions because of their connections as Liberal insiders.
The motion I have put forward is a necessary step to ensure accountability from this government. Canadians continue to pay high carbon taxes and struggle with affording rent and groceries, while this government plays fast and loose with taxpayer dollars, appointing friends to boards who serve their own financial interests while Canadians get no environmental benefit.
Ms. Méthot is implicated in mismanaging and mishandling 42 million dollars' worth of taxpayer funds by awarding contracts to companies she had financial interests in. How is it that this government, as though it were perfectly fine to appoint her to the Canada Infrastructure Bank, does not need to answer questions?
We know that Ms. Méthot tendered her resignation from the bank in April. We have her resignation letter from the bank.
We know that the Liberal government has also been embarrassed by the revelations of this mismanagement by the fund and that they decided a week ago to abolish the green slush fund. However, none of this absolves Ms. Méthot, the Liberal government or the minister from having to answer to Canadians about what they knew, when they knew it, how this happened and how deep this corruption goes.
I am certain that the government members here on this committee will welcome and support the investigation, so that Canadians can have answers, because Canadians do indeed deserve answers.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.