Madam Speaker, hopefully, this time, with enough members of the government listening, the Liberals will actually be willing to comply with the order of the Chair.
Last time I got up here, I utilized the opportunity to voice a number of the answers that I got from my constituents of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, and I read those answers directly into the record. I was asking for their feedback on two questions: One, should the Liberal government turn over the SDTC documents to the RCMP for the criminal investigation and comply with the will of Parliament and the ruling of the Speaker? Two, should the Liberal insiders who were awarded contracts through SDTC in an illegitimate manner or means repay that money that they received back to taxpayers?
I was shocked that, within just a few hours, I received over 200 email replies, and within just a few days, I had over 500. Approximately 85% answered in the affirmative to both those questions. Approximately 10% were unsure. They were maybe not really tracking the issue. A select few felt, for whatever reason, that maybe the government should not comply with the will of Parliament. I read about 30 of those answers into the record last month, and I am going to use the opportunity again in this speech to read their words into the record again. I have gone through and vetted them because there are a number of them that would not meet the parliamentary language test, so I will try to make sure that I do not slip up.
Before I get into their responses, I want to remind everybody who is watching exactly what we are debating today because we are on a subamendment. To back up, the question of privilege that we are considering is the motion from the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle, which was seconded by the member for Mégantic—L'Érable. He moved:
That the government's failure of fully providing documents, as ordered by the House on June 10, 2024, be hereby referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
The amendment as amended was moved by the member for Mégantic—L'Érable, and seconded by the member for South Shore—St. Margarets. He moved:
That the motion be amended by adding the following:
“provided that it be an instruction to the committee:
(a) that the following witnesses be ordered to appear before the committee, separately, for two hours each:
(i) the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry,
(ii) the Clerk of the Privy Council,
(iii) the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, who respected the order of the House and deposited unredacted documents,
(iv) Paul MacKinnon, the former Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Governance),
(v) the Auditor General of Canada,
(vi) the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
(vii) the Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada,
(viii) the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons,
(ix) the Acting President of Sustainable Development Technology Canada,
(x) a panel consisting of the Board of Sustainable Development Technology Canada; and
(b) that it report back to the House no later than the 30th sitting day following the adoption of this order.”
The subamendment read:
That the amendment be amended by adding the following:
“, except that the order for the committee to report back to the House within 30 sitting days shall be discharged if the Speaker has sooner laid upon the table a notice from the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel confirming that all government institutions have fully complied with the order adopted on June 10, 2024, by depositing all of their responsive records in an unredacted form”.
What does this subamendment get to? Basically, it is highlighting the conditions for ending this blockage of Parliament, this Liberal filibuster, by simply turning over the unredacted documents related to SDTC, more commonly known to most Canadians as the Liberal green slush fund. While the Liberals claimed that they have turned over thousands of documents, it has been reported, and the counsel to the House of Commons has reported in committee, that many of them have been redacted and the Liberals have not complied with the order.
I noticed that the member for Winnipeg North has given three speeches on this question of privilege already, and he has had, I am pretty sure, over 300 interventions on this topic alone.
He somehow continues to claim that this is a Conservative filibuster. In reality, the Liberals have the ability to end this blockage in the House of Commons today if they simply turn over the documents. Members from all officially recognized parties in the House have been speaking to this question of privilege for quite some time now. An important aspect I did not get to in my first speech is what this fund is about. It is a fund that has been around for over 20 years. It was given a clean bill of health back in the 2018 time frame, with no issues. It was established to promote research and development, to support green technology funds right across Canada. That is a good cause; I think this is something that members in the House totally agree on.
Unfortunately, this scandal, this mismanagement of 400 million dollars' worth of funds by Liberal insiders, with over 186 conflicts of interest, has created a huge problem for a lot of these green technology companies across Canada that are not part of the scandal. They were not tied to this insider corruption. Back in June, the minister announced a new governance framework for clean tech funding and said, “Effective immediately, SDTC will also resume funding, under a reinforced contribution agreement with ISED, for eligible projects in a sector vital to our country’s economy and clean growth transition.”
“In line with the Auditor General's findings,” the minister said, “[his] Department will enhance oversight and monitoring of funding during the transition period.” Here we are, five months after that announcement, and there are still unknowns. There is a green technology company in my own riding, employing approximately 70 employees. Those 70 people are working hard to make Canada a global leader in green hydrogen. Where is the money they were pre-approved for? They are not one of the organizations tied to the corruption and these conflicts of interest.
I guess I will pre-propose a question I might get from the member for Winnipeg North. He is normally the one who likes to ask me questions. He will have time; my speech still has approximately 11 minutes left. He can go talk to the government and try to get an answer, as the spokesperson in this place for the government, about when that money is going to start to flow. In my riding alone, there are 70 people depending upon this flow of money that is supposed to be still going through for the companies that were not in conflict. If there are dozens just in my own riding, I guarantee that there are hundreds of Canadians across this great country who are sitting in a status of unknown. They do not know whether they are still going to have a job. The funding is supposed to be flowing in the new year or whenever it is supposed to be coming; it has been already pre-approved, but they do not know when they are going to get that funding.
I ask the parliamentary secretary to do some digging into that over the next few minutes or encourage the minister to come and inform all members this decision has an impact on, to give them a status update in a timely fashion. These businesses are doing phenomenal work to help address green technology across this country.
I am going to go back to reading some quotes. There is no bigger privilege that we have in the House of Commons than to be the voice for our constituents here in Ottawa and to put their words on the record.
In response to my questions, Jennifer from Lion's Head said, “The Liberal government should definitely hand over the SDTC documents for investigation.
“Also Liberal insiders should have to pay back the grant money they received!!
“I just don't understand how this deceitful government (especially [the Prime Minister]) gets so many passes on shady, shady deals for the past 8+ years now.”
Marion said, “The Liberals should hand over all the documents immediately and everyone should pay back the money they received illegally (in my opinion). Just another example of the Liberals' incompetency or worse, dishonesty.”
Rhoda said, “Yes, the Liberals should be called to account and to submit all documents to the RCMP and to comply with Parliament. Otherwise, their actions indicate they are hiding something. They are not above the law.
“Yes, those Liberals must be held accountable and should repay the grant money to the taxpayers.”
Robert wrote, “Thanks for permitting a taxpayer of Canada to reply. Discouraging and just disappointed in most if not all of the Liberal-NDP performance.... Our Canadian federal governments that are joint are very shady and questionable partners that I do not believe have Canadian best interests first...which they surely should.”
Linda from Sauble Beach wrote, “Yes to both your questions. Sounds like watchdogs fell asleep. It will be hard to get the money back from Sustainable Development [Technology Canada]. Social services, hospitals, etc. will take the hit, with lower or nil grants. Theft from the public purse should certainly be investigated. Maybe bribery was involved and the acceptors could be made to pay back their ‘gifts’.”
Bill from Kemble said, “The Liberal government must obey the wishes of Parliament and deliver the un-redacted documents over to the RCMP. Failure to do so should invoke charges of obstructing justice against the prime minister and his minions.
“All persons or companies that illegitimately obtained funding must be made to pay back with interest all monies received. Additionally, criminal charges relating to fraud should be brought against the CEOs and other top executives.”
Deborah from Georgian Bluffs wrote, “The Liberal horse is long out of the barn. As far as I can tell, the Liberals have executed a number of activities that are highly suspect at best, possibly criminal, some by commission and others by omission, and yet they remain in power and have been in no way held accountable. Of course I think any documents proving wrongdoing should be submitted and monies returned to the public coffers, but do I have faith anything will come of it? No.”
Elaine wrote, “Yes and yes to both your questions. That is cheating, stealing and secretive. I'm glad there are whistleblowers. There is no confidence, common sense, honesty left with [the] government in any capacity or on any level.”
Mark said, “All SDTC documents should be made available to the RCMP, and any ill-gotten funds should be returned, as well as criminal charges being filed where applicable [against] whomever is involved. This bleeding has to stop.”
Samantha said, “Yes, because if it was anyone else, the same would apply. We as taxpayers should be treated with the respect that this will get looked into and brought to justice.”
Denise wrote, “My answer is yes and yes. But, unfortunately, I am sure nothing will be resolved and those who received the money will never pay it back and nothing will be done to the politicians who gave this money to their friends. It is sad to see so much money go to the rich when there are so many struggling just to make ends meet.”
Gary said, “The Liberals should absolutely adhere to the will of Parliament. Isn't that what democracy is all about? There are too many cover-ups and back room deals, and this is obviously one that they don't want to be made public, although I don't believe they can hurt themselves any more than they already have.”
Bill said, “Yes, the Liberal government should definitely turn over the requested documents immediately to the RCMP, and any Liberal insider who was awarded a contract illegitimately through the SDTC should be required to repay the amount.”
Todd said, “The Liberal government that ran on being open and honest should be held accountable for their actions. The money that was given out should be returned and an investigation done by the RCMP.
“This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.”
That gets to a key point, which is important for everybody to remember. This approximately $400 million of money that was handed out was only a sample set of the billion-dollar slush fund. In all likelihood, we are talking about a lot more conflicts of interest and a lot more money.
I do not know how many comments I just read into the record. Ultimately, the key message from them to us here in this chamber and to the government is to provide transparency and accountability. It is the role of parliamentarians and Parliament to hold the government to account and to oversee the government spending of Canadians' hard-earned tax dollars.
By refusing to comply with the Speaker's decision to produce the documents, the government is undermining the principle and integrity of the House. It is also setting a very dangerous precedent for what I think Canadians expect from all of us in the House of Commons.
Parliament is the House of the people, the people of my constituency of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound and, for that matter, all the constituencies across this country who trusted us and elected us to represent them. We are here to be the people's voice in Ottawa and ensure that we are good stewards of every single one of their tax dollars. Perhaps more than ever, as people struggle with the cost of living crisis and try hard every day just to put food on the table and pay to have a roof over their heads, Canadians deserve to know their tax dollars are being spent prudently, responsibly and on programs that will impact their lives in a positive way, not to line Liberal insiders' pockets.
In preparing for my speech today, I reviewed some of the excellent speeches by my Conservative colleagues. I appreciated learning something new from my hon. colleague from Foothills when he highlighted some claims the member for Papineau made back in 2013, which was before my time and privilege to be in this esteemed chamber. The then leader of the Liberal Party proclaimed that a future Liberal government would “be coming out shortly with a way to open up and be more transparent about all our expenses in a way that will restore Canadians' confidence and trust in holders of public office”. He stated, “We will certainly offer a level of transparency that hasn't been seen before.”
A lot of Canadians believed those words and rewarded the member for Papineau in 2015 with a majority government. Unfortunately, when the Prime Minister said we would have a level of transparency and accountability like we had never seen before, Canadians, I am pretty sure, assumed then that there was going to be more transparency and more accountability. Unfortunately, over these last nine years, we have seen exactly the opposite. As we have seen, the government and the Prime Minister have slammed the door shut on accountability and transparency when it comes to Canadian taxpayer dollars.
In summary, the Liberal government is accountable to Parliament, and Parliament's will is supreme. It is not my Conservative colleagues who are obstructing the business of the House of Commons. It is the Liberal government that is going against the will of the democratically elected House of Commons. The Liberals have the ability to end the blockage in the House of Commons today if they simply hand over the documents. We are here to hold the government to account, to be honest, be transparent and make sure the hard-earned taxpayer dollars of Canadians across this country, in my riding, in the Speaker's riding, in all ridings, are being spent for the right reasons and in an accountable, transparent manner.
I am hoping the member for Winnipeg North has an answer to my question. Hopefully, he can explain how the money is going to flow to the green tech companies that are doing so much to address important issues like climate change across this country, trying to make a difference and make Canada a global leader, but are being held up because of the Liberal scandal and this mess that has been created.
