Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for the rousing round of support.
What brought us here today is another day with yet another scandal by the government. It was nine years ago, and it seems like a long time ago, when the member for Papineau was campaigning to be the next Prime Minister of our country. He told Canadians that, under his governance, Canadians would see the most open and transparent government in the history of our country. He said that sunshine would be the best disinfectant. I believe he said sunny ways would be brought back to this country.
What have we seen in the last nine years? We have seen “elbowgate”, the cash-for-access scandal, Aga Khan, cultural appropriation, “gropegate” and sole-source contracts. This is like K-TEL best hits. There was also the WE scandal and clam scam. I will remind Canadians who are paying attention, and all those who are in the gallery today, what the clam scam was.
The former fisheries minister, now the Minister of Public Safety, and the Prime Minister's most trusted confidant, awarded a contract to a group being managed by a cousin or a brother-in-law of that minister. The company was also run by a former Liberal minister and the brother of a sitting Liberal member of Parliament. That essentially took almost 500 jobs from the town of Grand Banks in Newfoundland and awarded it to another group. Luckily, we exposed it and we were able to get those jobs back for the town of Grand Banks. I still get letters of support and thanks because we were the only ones who stood up for that town.
Time and again, we have seen the Prime Minister and his ministers evade accountability. It is always somebody else's problem. It is always somebody else's fault. It is scandal after scandal, corruption after corruption. There was the Winnipeg labs scandal, GC Strategies, 72 secret orders in council, and skipping the very first Truth and Reconciliation Day to go surfing in Tofino. That is what our Prime Minister did.
The Prime Minister, when he was the member for Papineau campaigning to be the next Prime Minister, put his hand on his heart and said that reconciliation and relationships with our indigenous people was the most important relationship for the government. What have we seen since that time? I remember the Prime Minister standing up and thanking indigenous protesters for their donation when all they were asking for was clean drinking water in their communities.
There were $6,000-a-night hotel rooms in London for the Queen's funeral. We saw some of our worst criminals, Paul Bernardo and Luka Magnotta, receive prison transfers in the darkness of night. They were transferred from our most secure prisons to our medium-security prisons. Most recently, the government bought a $9-million condo for the Prime Minister's friend in New York City.
We should never forget the other Randy. A company owned and run by one of the ministers here, who happens to have the same first name as Randy, and his partner in that two-person company, received millions of dollars of federal funding, which all kind of disappeared and there was lots of kerfuffle around it. There were discussions between the two partners. The one partner who was called before committee to testify said it was another Randy, but he could not remember the name of that Randy or was not going to provide the other Randy's last name.
Then there are the lavish vacations with wealthy donors. The government has repeatedly violated public trust and lost the moral authority to govern.
Now I will go into why we are here today.
All those who sit in this House are elected by the people, by Canadians. All 338 members are elected to be the voice of the Canadians who elected us. This is the House of Commons. It's the people's House. When the House mandates that something be done, we would think the Prime Minister and ministers would follow those orders.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada is a federally funded not-for-profit that approves and disburses millions of dollars in funds annually to clean technology companies. SDTC was established in 2001 by the Government of Canada through the Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology Act to fund the development and demonstration of new technologies that promote sustainable development. It is an arm's-length, not-for-profit organization that was created to support projects that develop and demonstrate new technologies that address issues related to climate change, air quality, clean water and clean soil.
It should be noted that in 2017, SDTC received a clean bill of health. All the findings at that point showed that everything was above board. Then along came the Prime Minister and his ministers. They hand-picked the board members and the chair, who then proceeded to spend almost a billion dollars of taxpayer funds. There were 186 times that the Auditor General found conflicts of interest, meaning the board of directors and the chair hand-picked where funding was going. Some of that funding went to their very own companies.
This House ordered an investigation and that the papers be delivered so the RCMP could have a look to see if indeed there was some criminality involved. That was an order from the Speaker. That was an order from this House. The Prime Minister ordered that those papers would be delivered, but they would be heavily redacted so that no investigation could be done. It begs the question: What more are the Liberals hiding?
Up to that point, SDTC continued to operate, but all of a sudden, its annual reports have ceased and it is refusing to answer questions. Over $330 million of taxpayers' money were directed to companies where the very board members who approved the funding had clear conflicts of interest. Additionally, the Auditor General found that the board authorized another $59 million in projects that were beyond the foundation's legal mandate.
The Prime Minister's hand-picked board members, including the chair, found themselves in positions where they could directly benefit their own companies. We mentioned that. They funnelled taxpayers' dollars, unaccounted for and unchecked, to their own companies. Nine directors were found by the Auditor General to be responsible for the 186 conflicts of interest. It is unbelievable.
The Conservatives want to get to the bottom of this. We want to hold the government accountable, and it is only the Conservatives who are doing this. The Canadian people deserve to know how their money has been misused. The NDP-Liberal government must finally be held accountable for the actions of its hand-picked appointees, and the Conservatives will be the ones to do it.