Mr. Speaker, the ineligible projects were those that demonstrated no environmental benefit. SDTC is a program designed to help companies implement green environmental technologies. The Conservative Party is very open to the idea of supporting technologies that can help us, rather than imposing the carbon tax on people. We want to implement new technologies that will help us improve the environment. In this case, the Liberals seemed to forget one detail: SDTC is a fund for implementing sustainable development technologies in Canada, not a fund for helping their cronies.
We are also talking about the environment. The organization was supposed to support environmental initiatives, but $58 million was invested in ineligible projects. That $58 million was wasted, with no tangible results for the environment or green technologies. That is outrageous.
I am in business, and I am not getting any subsidies. Quite honestly, none of the SMEs in Canada are getting subsidies. What we all want is for the technologies that are put in place to help the environment to actually work. Unfortunately, the government has thrown away $58 million.
On top of that, a whopping $334 million went to projects where there was a blatant conflict of interest. That has been proven. The Conservative Party of Canada is not the one saying that. It is the Auditor General of Canada, who audited all of the records that she had at that time. She had to stop because she ran out of time. That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the truth about this fund. There are probably a lot more problems. How can we and Canadians stand by when members of the SDTC board of directors directly profited from these public funds?
I have to briefly share a personal story. After losing the election in 2011 by nine votes, I went back to university. I took a course to get a certificate in business administration at Université Laval. The course was given over a few weekends. I relearned some things I already knew, basic things in life. When managing public funds, whatever they may be, there are certain rules that must be followed. I was the mayor of a city, and before I was mayor, I was a supplier to that city. I knew perfectly well that when I became mayor, I would no longer be able to get those city contracts for my company. If I did, I would be personally benefiting from public funds. The course I took at Université Laval is an excellent course. It still exists today, and it trains certified business administrators.
I will digress for a moment. When this government came to power in 2015, it appointed administrators who were friends of the party and who favoured other friends of the party. However, there are training programs in Canada, particularly at the Université de Montréal, Université Laval and Concordia University, that train people to run corporations and organizations.
What is a corporation? It can be a foundation, a fund, a listed company or an unlisted company, for example. These people are therefore authorized to manage funds. They do not have to be appointed. This is where most of the problem originated: Some of the people who were appointed had received funds from SDTC in the past.
When these people were appointed, of course, they declared potential conflicts of interest. However, that did not stop them from awarding themselves money after being appointed to the board of directors. There are other people in Canada who could have done a very good job of managing this fund. In some cases, directors paid money directly to themselves. Afterwards, they said that it was because they were misinformed and got bad legal advice. I went to university for a few weekends to learn about corporate management or business administration. They taught us the basics, the most fundamental things. People cannot profit directly or indirectly from public funds that they administer.
There is nothing complicated about that. It is the absolute starting point for public administration, and it is no different for a member of Parliament. I own a business that I could use to provide services to a lot of people. I could even provide services to myself. I do not, however, because it is not allowed. If I used the services of my own company, it would put me in a conflict of interest. My company employs 12 graphic designers, but I pay someone outside my company to handle my business as an MP. I know I have no choice. It is what I have to do. That is the bare minimum when it comes to potential conflicts of interests.
This $334 million was taken directly out of Canadians' pockets, out of everyone's pockets, including the people here. That money should have been invested in other innovative, useful and sustainable projects to serve these same Canadians, but instead, it was used to make the rich richer. This is almost a Liberal hallmark. They keep taking money from Canadians to make the rich richer.
This type of scandal should not be conceivable, let alone achievable. The government has a duty to protect public funds and ensure that every taxpayer dollar is used with integrity and transparency. However, SDTC's actions and the Liberal government's complete lack of control show just the opposite. In fact, the minister was forced to admit to the House that the situation had really gotten out of hand. He was forced to shut down the fund and reallocate the money to another department, which reports to his own department, in order to be able to continue investing in green technology. The whole board of directors was sacked, and rightly so. It was the only thing to do.
However, the actions of SDTC and the government's complete lack of control prove just the opposite. This government claims to be the champion of transparency and good management. This really bothers me. In 2015, the government, led by the Prime Minister, came in saying that it would be the most transparent government Canada had ever seen. Instead, we have never had a worse government than this one when it comes to transparency. Not only did it fail to manage all the funding, but it is still actively trying to hide the truth today.
These cover-ups are not an isolated incident in this government's recent history, far from it. The Liberals have earned a reputation for their many, many scandals. It is one scandal after the other, each more shocking than the last. They may not know how to outdo themselves when it comes to governing a country, but when it comes to corruption and scandal, they outdo themselves every time.
The current government has always cared more about protecting itself and its allies than serving the interests of the public, the interests of the Canadians who elected it to defend them and represent them. I would remind my colleagues across the way that Canadians are the ones who allow us to sit here in order to serve them and defend their interests, not to make them poorer and to lie to them.
Let us come back to the topic at hand. I was saying that it is fundamental to understand that the SDTC scandal is much more than an isolated scandal. It demonstrates precisely how this Liberal government operates. Conflicts of interest seem to be the norm, not the exception. How can this government hope to retain the public's trust when it so openly favours its cronies while ignoring the concerns of the people?
This contempt for Canadians is completely unacceptable. It is downright insulting. Canadians are struggling to afford food and shelter, to pay for fuel, to deal with the overwhelming cost of living. All of us, from every party, know it. We hear it in our ridings, we see the news and we make it a priority here in Parliament to say that the cost of living is too high, much too high.
I was in my riding last weekend, and I met with people who often call our office. My staff is inundated with calls from people who unfortunately are unable to make ends meet. They are struggling to survive because of rising costs. From inflation to interest costs, all this means that people cannot cope with the cost of living right now. That is really not good news for them.
Quite honestly, the current government is to blame for the increased cost of living. Over the past nine years, the government has doubled the debt. According to a statistic that was released today, Canada's GDP is tanking compared to that of the United States. Americans have a far higher standard of living than Canadians. That was not the case until just recently. We are moving in the wrong direction.
This morning, at the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, Mr. Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, explained that the cost of living is only going to go up. Just this morning, La Presse published one of his articles in which he said we need to be prepared because the price of meat is going to be outlandish next year. It already is. The other day, I went to the grocery store and saw a two-pack of T-bone steaks for $87. I have never seen anything like that in my life. It is absolutely incredible.
We are conducting a study right now on credit card interest rates. Interest on credit cards is going up all the time, not only for users, but also for companies that have payments. Meanwhile, the big banks are making money hand over fist, whereas in other countries there are fixed fees that are much lower than what we have in Canada.
All of these things have prevented the government from making a decision. Today, people are literally drowning in bills they cannot pay, and it is not a pretty sight. As a result, Canadians are unable to meet their basic needs. That is the reality.
We have been debating this privilege motion for a month. If the government wants us to move on to something else, all it has to do is hand over the documents. What is it hiding that is important enough to stop it from handing over documents that we have been asking for for almost a month? This government invariably has to do things its own way. Canadians are tired of this government. It seems to live in a bubble, cut off from the realities of everyday life and completely disconnected from the people it is meant to represent. People were talking to me about it last week, when I was in my riding. They want an election as soon as possible. They are fed up, sick and tired, and they need a change.
Last week was Small Business Week. My riding is full of SMEs, and I am extremely proud of them. I admire their work and I support their activities. I am a proud long-time entrepreneur myself, having been in business for 33 years. I am also proud to say that my daughter just bought my partner's shares, so our company is truly a family business, and like all entrepreneurs, we work extremely hard to create high-quality, well-paying jobs. The most important thing for an entrepreneur is to create jobs.
The SMEs in my riding are really struggling right now. I talk to entrepreneurs every day, and I meet with them every weekend when I am in my riding. My thoughts are with those entrepreneurs who are struggling to do business in this scary economic environment. When I think of the SDTC scandal, I have to bite my tongue, because my remarks could be a lot more aggressive. I am trying to be polite. People are literally disgusted by all the scandals caused by this government over the past nine years and all the money that is going down the drain.
The chair, Ms. Verschuren, came to tell us that she was not responsible since she was no longer on the board of directors. I am sorry, but she was there when the decisions were made. We are responsible for what we do in life for the rest of our lives. We cannot just disappear into thin air just because we are no longer on the board of directors and no longer linked to that. Someone has to take responsibility for this. It is important for the people who were on the board of directors at the time and who were given money through a company to be held accountable.
The business owners all got through the COVID-19 crisis. The lucky ones at the green fund were given a sum equivalent to 5% of all the loans already given to bolster their working capital. I am sorry, but the other businesses across Canada did not get 5% of the loans that they already took out through the fund or at the bank.
We have a lot of work to do. The Liberals have a very big job to do to give us back this money as quickly as possible.