Mr. Speaker, on November 5 I asked the Minister of Natural Resources to table the secret report by the auditor general of his examination of the Cape Breton Development Corporation.
This report would shed light on recent disturbing facts regarding Devco's management of billions of dollars of crown assets.
It is unlikely this House will see the report. The minister appears uninterested in making this agency under his responsibility accountable to the public. In the weeks following his decision to keep the murky dealings of the Devco board from public scrutiny, the special Senate committee investigating Devco found it nearly impossible to make heads or tails of the numbers in Devco's five year plan and other fundamental documents of record.
As a Cape Bretoner, it was embarrassing to see senior officers of one of Cape Breton's most visible institutions being given an accounting lesson by senators. Senators were shocked at how the board signed a letter of intent to hand over Donkin Mine, a crown asset worth billions, to a company with no assets. In what surely will be one of the largest transfers of public assets in years, board members seemingly had less than a day to learn of the chairman's quicksilver negotiations to lock up the deal before they rubber stamped the process as part of a routine Wednesday afternoon meeting.
Senators felt that the handling of this matter with little explanation and no accountability was highly inappropriate. Senator MacDonald, and this is directly from the minutes of the November 18 Senate hearing, said the board sealed this deal using “indecent haste”.
Senator Murray said the letter of intent to dispose of the Donkin billions was based on and I quote, “quite incomplete and flimsy information”. Senator Murray said the board's actions were incredible.
The chairman of Devco told senators he did not consult with anyone about the deal. The minister then told senators that Devco's board has no legal right to either develop the Donkin Mine or to sell it as it belongs to the federal government. But they went ahead and signed a deal to sell without even bothering to pick up the phone and let the minister know he would soon be a few billion dollars lighter.
It was the former Minister of Health who announced that $300,000 in federal funds were being released into DRL bank accounts through a subsidiary of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Until this federal gift arrived, DRL was unable to meet its responsibilities under the terms and conditions of the contract with Devco, namely, to prepare its plans to develop a mine through the study of data.
I implore the minister to table the auditor general's report on Devco to meet its mandate promoting accountability and best practices in government.
What are Devco and the minister afraid of? Senator Murray is afraid that Devco's letter of intent may have crippled the rights of the federal government to reject the deal or even to set terms and conditions. If so, the terms of this deal have been illegally established because, according to the minister, Devco has no such legal right to do so. I wonder if the deal would even stand up in court at this point without federal government approval.
Just this week, Nova Scotia Power announced it needs to import coal from the U.S. because Devco could not meet its requirements. Nova Scotians are appalled by this need to import coal given our expertise and resources.
There is an absolute mess brewing under the minister's nose. Before this all takes on a whiff of scandal or the stench of government rot, I urge the minister to clear the air by tabling in this House the auditor general's report on the Cape Breton Development Corporation in the name of accountability and for the sake of the integrity of his own department.