Madam Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to congratulate my province's premier-designate, Susan Holt, who was elected Monday night.
Ms. Holt has the distinction of being New Brunswick's first woman premier, although we must acknowledge that voters did not elect her because she is a woman. She is a person of some achievement, who I hope will keep my province moving forward.
Ms. Holt is inheriting a province on a strong economic and fiscal foundation, and provided she governs as the centrist she campaigned as, she could be formidable by building on New Brunswick's recent achievements. Already, she has demonstrated some skill by opposing the federal carbon tax and more skilfully downplaying any association with the federal Liberals. It was as if the Prime Minister did not exist for the last 32 days in New Brunswick. It was a wise move, given that voters as well as Liberal members of Parliament are set to skewer their very disliked federal leader.
I would also like to thank Premier Blaine Higgs and the MLAs who have served under his leadership since 2018. I can say without a doubt that New Brunswick today has never been in a stronger position in my lifetime, both in terms of quality of life as well as opportunity compared to the rest of Canada. It is a great place to call home. Our economy is growing, work is available without going west and, today, other Canadians recognize our advantages by moving down east in record numbers. It is not bad at all.
Ms. Holt is now the steward of this prosperity and advantage. I hope that New Brunswick remains a successful province, and I am ready to work with the new provincial government on shared priorities so that my province is always heard in Parliament and within the federal government by its decision-makers.
Moving now to the matter at hand, here is why there has been gridlock in Parliament. The Liberals have paralyzed the House of Commons. The Prime Minister and cabinet have chosen to ignore a lawful order from Parliament to table documents requested by the House of Commons. This, briefly, is the chronicle of events.
The Prime Minister and cabinet chose a group of well-connected elites to dish out $1 billion of taxpayer money through the Sustainable Development Technology Canada program. These chosen elites then gave the money to companies they either owned or had a financial interest in. When these acts of blatant conflict and corruption were reported to cabinet, the Liberals tried to cover it up. Mandarins and ministers were aware of taxpayer funds being misappropriated through SDTC, but instead of stopping this scam, the program administrators somehow funnelled even more taxpayer funds for ineligible projects from other federal departments. It was all approved by different ministers appointed by the Prime Minister.
Thankfully, Canada's Auditor General examined the program and exposed the conflicts, the cover-ups and Liberal corruption. My colleague, the hon member for South Shore—St. Margarets, initiated a parliamentary investigation into the corruption, which resulted in an order from the House of Commons that the government hand over all documents, unredacted. Unfortunately, this Liberal government will not follow the law by providing those documents to Parliament.
It is a long-established right, which is entrenched in our Constitution, bestowed on members of the House to send for and receive documents they deem necessary. Parliament's law clerk has confirmed and reinforced this fact to the committee I chair, public accounts, which he did this week.
The Liberal government's disregard of Parliament's order strikes at the very heart of our democratic institutions. This is about integrity, transparency and accountability of a government that supposedly serves Canadians. These values, which are fundamental to any functioning democracy, have been badly eroded over the course of the past nine years by this Prime Minister and Liberal cabinet.
This is not a matter of partisanship. It is a matter of principle. It is a matter of trust, trust that Canadians placed in this now tired government in 2015, nine long years ago, when voters were promised an era of transparency and openness. We will remember the lofty rhetoric that dissolved almost overnight. I want to remind everyone here, especially those in the benches opposite, that in 2015 the Liberals presented Canadians with a platform of change. They campaigned on the promise to be the most transparent and accountable government in Canadian history. We are faced with a reality that is entirely different, that is far removed from that province and has manifested itself into a taxpayer's nightmare.
What we have seen time and time again is a government that has failed to live up to its own promises. We have seen a government that has been mired in scandal after scandal, a government that has betrayed the trust of all Canadians. The green slush fund, otherwise known as the SDTC scandal, is the most egregious example of this betrayal. According to the Auditor General's report, SDTC was responsible for awarding nearly $390 million in taxpayers' money to projects where board members had direct financial interest. These nine board members, approved by the Prime Minister and the cabinet, were involved in 186 conflicts of interest. This was not accidental mismanagement. It was systematic corruption orchestrated by those in positions of power to benefit themselves and their associates.
One egregious example is that of Andrée-Lise Méthot, who was appointed to the SDTC board in 2016. Méthot runs a venture capital firm, Cycle Capital, which received $114 million in grants from SDTC during her tenure on the board, funds that directly benefited her personal investments. The value of Cycle Capital tripled during this period, thanks in no small part to the tax dollars funded through the SDTC program. How convenient it must be to sit on government-appointed boards and approve millions of dollars to one's own company. This blatant self-dealing is emblematic of a broader culture of cronyism that has infected this tired Liberal government.
Instead of focusing on innovation, the green slush fund became a piggy bank for well-connected Liberal insiders who used their influence to enrich themselves at the expense of hard-working Canadian taxpayers. The corruption did not stop with Méthot. Another board member, Stephen Kukucha, was also involved in conflicts of interest. A former political staffer to a Liberal environment minister, Kukucha used his position on the SDTC board to funnel $5 million to companies in which he had financial interests. Like Méthot, Kukucha saw nothing wrong with enriching himself through his government connections.
When questioned, he actually dismissed the $5-million payout as “a small amount of money”, but that small amount of money is a staggering sum for Canadian families who have seen their federal taxes rise to pay for government largesse. It represents the taxes paid by countless families struggling to make ends meet. For these Liberal insiders, it is just another example of how the system has been rigged in their favour and against everyday Canadians.
This scandal demonstrates a government that has completely lost its way, a government that has become more interested in serving the interests of a select few than in serving the people of Canada. However, this scandal is about more than just the misuse of tax dollars. It is about the erosion of trust. It is about the erosion of the very principles of good governance that we are all elected to uphold and to hold accountable. The scandals that have plagued the government, from the SNC-Lavalin affair to the WE Charity scandal, from the misuse of public funds in green energy projects to the Prime Minister's own ethical violations, have revealed that Canadians have a Prime Minister who is no longer capable of acting honestly for our country.
The green slush fund scandal is one of the most troubling examples of the government's failure to live up to its promise. Not only is it about the hundreds of millions of dollars in misspent and misallocated money, but it is also now about a government that is not prepared to follow an order of the House.
SDTC was established with the goal of fostering innovation in the Canadian economy. For many years before the Liberal government, it was well managed. It was a program in which projects would be funded on merit. What was a lifeline for innovators became a Liberal vehicle for corruption and cronyism.
According to the Auditor General's report, a staggering 390 million tax dollars was allocated to projects in which board members were in a direct conflict of interest. That hard-earned taxpayer money went to projects where decision-makers stood to benefit personally. This is not just a failure of oversight but also a violation of trust. It is a betrayal of the very principles of transparency and accountability to taxpayers.
This scandal, sadly, is not an isolated incident for the government. Earlier, I alluded to a broader pattern of corruption and ethical lapses that have plagued the government since it took office. We all remember the SNC-Lavalin affair, in which the Prime Minister himself was found to have violated ethics laws by attempting to interfere in a criminal case to benefit a corporation that was connected to the Liberals. We all remember the WE Charity scandal, in which millions in tax dollars was funnelled to an organization with close ties to the Prime Minister's family. Who could forget the numerous ethical breaches involved in the firing of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman?
These scandals are not just the result of poor decision-making or bad management; they are the result of a culture of corruption that has taken root within the government. It is a culture in which well-connected insiders are rewarded while ordinary, everyday Canadians are left behind to pick up the bill. Rules apply to everyone else but not to those in positions of power and authority.
What is even more troubling is the government's response to these scandals. Instead of taking responsibility, instead of acknowledging its mistakes and working to fix them, which would be the honourable route, it has chosen to obfuscate, deny and hide the truth. When Parliament ordered the production of documents related to this green slush fund scandal, the government responded by heavily redacting those documents, making it impossible for Parliament to fulfill its duty of holding it accountable. There is no other reason for us to be here than to approve funds it requests and then to hold it accountable for the spending of those dollars. What we are seeing from the Liberals is not the behaviour of a government that values transparency but that of a government with something to hide.
The cost of this corruption is not just financial; the true cost of this scandal goes far beyond tax dollars. Canadians have lost faith in the government. Who can blame them? They see their hard-earned tax dollars being misused and mismanaged and a government that refuses to admit wrongdoing. It sets a precedent that breeds further corruption and incompetence throughout the bureaucracy.
It is a time when millions of Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. Food bank usage has reached a point where we see that families can no longer afford to eat without donations or assistance. Seniors are being forced to make difficult choices just to keep food on the table. Meanwhile, the government has been handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to its well-connected friends.
It is an insult to every Canadian who works hard, pays their taxes, plays by the rules and expects in return that those in power, those in government, will be honest. Instead of this, tax money went to projects that were tainted by conflicts of interest and projects that did not qualify for funding without underhanded tactics to give well-connected Liberals an edge over others. This is the true cost of their corruption. It is the cost borne by the Canadian taxpayers, who are being asked to shoulder the burden of higher federal taxes each and every day because the government has lost its way, lost its ability to manage and lost its ability to be straight with Canadians.
As a member of His Majesty's loyal opposition, I have a solemn duty, as do all members on this side of the House, to hold the government to account. Our system of government is based on the principle of responsible government, where the executive is answerable to the legislature, that is, Parliament, and by extension, through members of Parliament, to the people of Canada. This is not just a theoretical concept; it is a fundamental principle of our democracy that we must defend at all costs. However, time and time again, the government has shown contempt for Parliament and the democratic process that we are supposed to keep in check.
The refusal to provide unredacted documents to the House and the Liberals' repeated attempts to cover up the truth by protecting former officials and staff members are part of a pattern of behaviour that is deeply concerning. When the Speaker of the House rules that documents must be provided, it is not a suggestion; it is an order. It is the will of the House and it must be respected. The government's decision to redact the documents is a clear violation of our collective parliamentary privileges, and it is an affront to the democratic principles that underpin our system of government.
The question we must ask ourselves is this: What is the government trying to hide? Why is it so determined to keep these documents out of the hands of Parliament and parliamentarians? If there is nothing to hide, why not provide the documents in full and allow the truth to come to light? Sunshine, of course, is the best disinfectant.
In the years since this scandal was first exposed, I suspect two things have happened. First, an army of bureaucrats and government staff members have combed through the thousands of documents we are looking to get our hands on. Second, the Liberals have collectively agreed among themselves that the true cost of this scandal is not $390 million, but a much larger figure that they want to keep to themselves at all costs.
This is also a political nightmare for the Liberals because it could well mean the annihilation of members of Parliament in the government at election time. A government deputy minister said that this scandal is worse than the Chrétien-Martin sponsorship scandal, and we all know that that scandal, the ad scam scandal, ended the Martin and Chrétien governments. SDTC is so devastating that it would do great harm to the Prime Minister, cabinet and the Liberal Party if the books were opened and revealed to the public.
The green slush fund scandal is not just about the misuse of tax dollars. As I said before, it is about the principle that no one, not even the Prime Minister, is above the law. It is about the principle that those who are entrusted with the stewardship of public funds must be held to the highest standards of accountability and transparency. The refusal of the government to provide the documents requested by Parliament is a clear violation. It is an attempt to subvert Parliament to shield those responsible for this corruption from accountability. Let me be clear: Parliament must not allow this to happen.
When all three main opposition parties are in agreement, it is a signal that trust has been broken across the country. In the upcoming election, Canadians will have the opportunity to choose a different path. I stand today to say that Conservatives will bring forward a government that Canadians can trust, a government that will be responsible stewards of their tax dollars and will always act in the best interests of the people who elected us to serve them. If we are given that opportunity, we will ensure that those in positions of power are held accountable for their actions. This means real consequences for ethical violation and conflicts of interest. We will also ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and responsibly. This means ending the culture of cronyism that has taken hold in the Liberal bench, means ensuring that public contracts and grants are awarded based on merit and means a better day and turning the page on the corrupt government.