Madam Speaker, in reviewing the history, Sustainable Development Technology Canada was a one billion dollar fund that was supported by multiple governments and ran smoothly, in fact, without incident until 2017. It was designed with the noble cause of helping green technology start-ups get off the ground, with some government support in order to accelerate action on climate and the environment. Then the Prime Minister appointed a new Liberal board chair to the SDTC.
However, after the Conservatives put forward a motion asking for the Auditor General to conduct audits into the SDTC, she found that the fund had approved projects for funding that were ineligible for taxpayer funds. She further found that SDTC executives violated at least $400 million of taxpayer funds. Eighty per cent of the cases the Auditor General looked at had conflicts of interest. She also found that the green slush fund had frequently overstated the environmental benefit of the projects they funded.
We know that the Auditor General's findings were just the tip of the iceberg. She did not conduct an exhaustive audit. She just looked at a sample of cases and investigated them. This sample revealed such conflicts of interest that are a part of this privilege motion today, yet 80% of those cases were found in violation of the law.
We also know that some of those at the centre of the scandal, the Liberal-appointed board members who benefited from these contracts, managed to jump ship and secure other government-appointed positions.
One of the green slush fund directors, Andrée-Lise Méthot, actually admitted to several conflicts of interest with funds that went to companies in which she had a financial interest. In fact, the Minister of Environment, prior to joining cabinet, served as a strategic adviser for a venture capital firm called Cycle Capital from 2009 to 2018. This is the same firm that Ms. Méthot founded and was the managing partner of, the same firm that received a significant amount of SDTC funding while she sat on the board.
As this scandal was coming out, she was then coincidentally appointed to the board of the $35 billion Canada Infrastructure Bank. This is the same bank where Liberal-friendly McKinsey consultants have been deeply involved. She went from one plum board appointment to another, even after finding that she had engaged in conflicts of interest by enriching companies in which she had an interest while she sat on the board. She has since resigned, but yet Ms. Méthot is implicated in mishandling $42 million of taxpayer funds by awarding contracts to companies in which she had financial interest.
At the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, the Conservatives are, right now, trying to get to the bottom of this scandal. We have put forward a motion to investigate this issue. It is completely unacceptable that those who repeatedly violate conflict of interest policies should be promoted to plum government positions because they have connections with Liberal insiders. How is it that the government thought it was perfectly fine to appoint her to the Canada Infrastructure Bank after she was found to have violated conflict of interest laws to enrich her own company?
In light of all these egregious refusals to honour the authority of Parliament and to act in a way that is befitting of the Canadian democracy, the Conservatives have been forced to put forward a motion in the House to demand that the government get to the bottom of the green slush fund scandal by handing over all the files, communications and financial records to Parliament. Parliament would then hand over all documents to the RCMP for further investigation. However, after that motion passed, the 30-day deadline came and went without action.
What did we find? Some departments partially complied and some blatantly disobeyed the order. The government failed to hand over the documents and fell into contempt of this Parliament. The Speaker of the House ruled on this matter and stated, “In some instances, only partial disclosures were made, owing either to redactions or the withholding of documents. In other instances, the House order was met with a complete refusal.”
The Department of Justice alone withheld 10,000 pages from Parliament. The Speaker of the House decided the matter of privilege, ruling that the Liberals violated the will of Parliament to turn over the evidence so that the RCMP could conduct the criminal investigation. Since then, the RCMP has confirmed that it is indeed investigating this scandal and that it is ongoing.
This is not a trivial political matter. This is not a trivial matter that has seized the House. The RCMP is not investigating because the Conservative opposition has directed it to do so. It is, in fact, an independent agency. It is investigating because there are reasonable grounds upon which to base an investigation into offences committed under the Criminal Code. Once it investigates, it will decide what to do with the documents in question and whether to prosecute. That is in its sole discretion. It has full power to conduct its investigation within the bounds of the law.
Parliament has supremacy in our constitutional democracy. It has supremacy above the government. It has supremacy above the Prime Minister. The House of Commons is the representation of the people of Canada and, as such, has powers that are absolute and within the authority as afforded by our Constitution, yet what we see here is an open contempt of authority. The government has demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the powers of Parliament to order the production of documents, which is key to the role of the House to act as a check and balance on the executive branch.
For months the government has flouted the authority of Parliament by refusing to comply with the will of Parliament in this matter. If we allow this to continue, when will this attack on Parliament's authority end? We are at risk of having the chamber of the people of our great nation in the House of Commons devolve into nothing more than an echo chamber, without true power to exercise its role and to do the work of the people in the House.
The very strength of our democratic institutions lies within the power of the House to put a check on the power of the executive branch, to oppose and expose ethical breaches. In other words, the issue goes to the very heart of our democracy and as such is a litmus test of its strength.
The question is, what does the Liberal government have to hide? Why is it so desperate to keep these documents hidden from Canadians? How deep does this corruption go?
We know that the Liberal government has been so embarrassed by the revelations of mismanagement of the green slush fund that it decided to outright abolish it, or at least transfer it to another government agency. However, none of this absolves the SDTC. Nor does it absolve the government from its responsibility to Canadians. It must provide Parliament and the RCMP with answers as to what it knew, when it knew it, how this happened and how deep this corruption goes.
This paralysis of Parliament could be over today if the Liberals displayed the moral courage to comply with the order of the House by turning over the documents for the RCMP to investigate. However, they do not want to and we all know why. These files would certainly reveal the depth of corruption with respect to the green slush fund over the past nine years.
We have seen this movie before. In 2019, when it was revealed that scientists working in Canada's highest security lab were collaborating clandestinely with the People's Republic of China, it took 10 months for those scientists to be fired. When the House first asked for the documents to be released, the Liberals refused. They even took the former Speaker to court in order to cover up their failure.
Are we going to allow the tired government to continue to flout the authority of Parliament as it betrays the trust of Canadians with its endless scandals and reckless management of our economy? Let us not forget that the NDP has been complicit in these scandals by propping up the government with its coalition deal. It is clear that both the Prime Minister and the NDP have been desperately clinging to power. Only the Conservatives are committed to getting to the bottom of these scandals.
My constituents expect me to hold government to account, not prop it up. They expect me to represent their interests and to fight for their concerns. The truth is that our democracy and our shared Canadian dream is at risk. We have seen a sharp decline in the state of our nation over the last nine years. For one, Canadians are poorer than they were nine years ago. Since 2016, the cost of an average home in my constituency of Haldimand—Norfolk has increased by over 150%. Families now need a household income of $208,000 to own a home. Between 2023 and 2024, the average cost of a one-bedroom rental unit increased by 35%, from $892 to $1,190 per month.
Even the health care system has become less reliable and less accessible than it was nine years ago. Streets are less safe, and freedom of speech and freedom of thought are more restricted than they were nine years ago.
The motion before us is about the $400-million siphon to Liberal friends; perhaps the money was even stolen. Canadian tax dollars have been mismanaged at a time when Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat their home or house themselves. Many are living paycheque to paycheque.
It is time for the government to own up to its record and let Canadians decide for themselves. We need to restore transparency and integrity and ensure that taxpayers are once again put first. That is the magnitude of what hangs in the balance in what we are debating today.