Mr. Speaker, in 2022, our colleague, the Conservative MP for Calgary Shepard, made some very important observations about how the Canadian government and elected officials could do more to move economic actors away from a political and social agenda and toward being focused on their economic objectives. I would like to share some of his thoughts, from the National Post. He argued that it should be:
considered a breach in the duty of care...to shareholders when directors and officers of a large distributing corporation...make activist statements, including in relation to public policy or social issues, that is not directly related to the business the corporation carries out and that could reasonably be expected to reduce the value of shares.
He then went on to argue that corporations requiring the firm's board of directors to first consult with shareholders would “make corporations think twice before opining on something beyond their stated corporate purpose.”
When I use a lot of that lingo and jargon, I understand that some of it is very dense corporate law stuff, but the reason it is important is that this is about deciding, when organizations are trusted in our society, whether they are large private sector businesses or well-funded non-profit organizations backed by the federal government, how much power the public is actually entrusting them to have.
When people with lots of money at their disposal decide to turn their organizations not just into economic actors but also into social activist agencies and political actors, they are representing the will and the interests of well-financed people, to the detriment of the masses of Canadians who work very hard to have their voices heard.
When SDTC was trusted with hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money and used it to advance a social activist agenda or a political agenda, it was acting against the will of the people, who did not trust them with that power in our society, just as we do not trust many other big corporations to do the same. Instead, what we have seen, over and over again, is a willingness of people with lots of capital at their disposal to become social activists.
SDTC is a cautionary tale. SDTC could not do everything it claimed. It is hard enough to grow a business, stay within a mandate and be responsible and accountable to the Canadian taxpayer, as the Liberal government well knows. If someone thinks they can do all of those things well and also be a social activist or engage in political activism on the side, they run the risk of being like SDTC: making poor decisions, destroying their organization and not serving the public in the process.
I would like to finish with this. Earlier today, the HUMA committee heard from the Liberal government's DEI minister. What was very revealing about this, as I was preparing for my comments here today concerning SDTC, was just how much the superficiality that is represented by SDTC is really a reflection of a broad approach to governance from the Liberal government itself.
The Liberals are constantly focused on hollow, superficial and empty virtue signalling. They would love to be able to say whatever they can to make themselves look good and pat each other on the back. However, when it comes to making decisions that are responsible for the good of our country; to showing any kind of humility for the nine years they have been in power and for the various mistakes and scandals they have been part of; or to admitting that they have been wrong, that they have made many things in our country worse and that many of their policies have failed, they are completely obtuse.
Every day, we stand here to provide the Liberals with evidence, statistical, anecdotal, academic or from news reports or whatever other evidence we can put in front of them, to show just how much they have made life worse for many people in our country. However, they are completely obtuse. The Liberals would rather use a lot of jargon. They want to trot out DEI narratives and distill very serious problems in our country to things that make them sound and feel good, but the reality is that they are failing our country.
The problem with SDTC, and why I think Liberals are so dug in on not wanting to reveal the scandal, is that it is a bigger reflection of who they are and what they have done for the last nine years. It is a bigger reflection of how they have used power, how they view the people in our country and what responsibilities they feel, or more accurately do not feel, for the power that has been entrusted to their hands.
There is a very serious problem going on here. This is why, and we hear it all the time, when we are knocking on doors, when we are talking to people in the community and when I am with my constituents in Durham, people are desperate for change. They are not getting it from a government and a Prime Minister who promised them a new way of doing politics nine years ago and have failed desperately to deliver on that promise.
SDTC is not just about the $400 million, although that is very serious. It is not just about the corruption, although those documents should be produced. It is also about the mentality that the government has, the broken promises to an entire generation of Canadians, and its inability to learn anything from its mistakes, pivot and maybe make a better decision for the good of our country.
Again, I hope that these documents do get produced. I do hope that the purpose of Parliament, to hold government accountable and to get answers for the people of our country, is fulfilled. I appreciate having the chance to speak to SDTC, ESG, DEI and all the acronyms that need to change.