With the House still paralyzed by a privilege debate concerning a now-defunct green tech fund, one of its former board members faced accusations of “conflict, corruption, and mismanagement” at committee this week in a heated exchange with Conservative MPs.

Former Sustainable Development and Technology Canada (SDTC) board member Andrée-Lise Méthot’s testimony at the House Public Accounts Committee on Oct. 28 was the latest chapter in the SDTC saga.

Méthot—who’s also founder of the Montreal-based clean technology venture capital investment platform Cycle Capital—denied allegations that she exploited her position as a board member to fund her own firms, and told MPs that she recused herself from meetings where there was a real, perceived, or potential conflict of interest concerning her company.

“I followed the rules. I submitted a conflict of interest declaration for these companies in which Cycle Capital indeed had interest,” she said. She clarified that she had to recuse herself four times relating to real conflicts of interest, and 32 times overall due to potential or perceived conflict of interests.

There have been several heated exchanges between Méthot and Conservative MP Rick Perkins (South Shore—St. Margarets, N.S.), with Perkins claiming that Méthot funnelled more than $200-million in government funds to her own company. Méthot refuted those claims saying “This is false.”   

“I wonder where all these figures come from because they do not hold up,” Méthot said in her opening statement, referring to the dollar amounts that have been circulating over social media. The former SDTC board member attended the meeting with her lawyer present, and only spoke in French.

Perkins’ questions come as the House of Commons remains gridlocked in a privilege debate related to the defunct fund, with Conservatives demanding all SDTC documents be turned over to the RCMP for a criminal investigation, but the government says the matter should be reviewed by a parliamentary committee instead.

At committee, Perkins went through a list of companies that received SDTC funding, citing new documents the committee received from Auditor General Karen Hogan, which includes more details than were in her public report on the fund. Perkins pressed Méthot on whether her company held any interests or investments in the firms on his list. Méthot denied involvement in most cases, but acknowledged ties to a few. 

Perkins argued that the number of instances in which Méthot acknowledged having ties to companies amounted to $20-million in funds allocated to those firms. However, Méthot said “the number is incorrect,” and explained that there were four businesses in her company’s portfolio that received SDTC funding which totalled at $10.4-million. The discrepancy over the funding amounts further fuelled the dispute between Perkins and Méthot. 

“Ten million alone, alone from SDTC. While you were on the board … $10-million just in one company. Now I will ask again,” said Perkins.

“Sorry!” Méthot retorted, shaking her finger at Perkins as she attempted to speak over his question. 

“You don’t get to interrupt me,” Perkins shot back, reminding Méthot that it was MPs’ time to question witnesses in committee.

“Whether it’s $10-million, $30-million, or whether it’s $50-million, it’s contrary to the act. You broke the act,” said Perkins.

In testimony on Nov. 28, 2023, Méthot confirmed four businesses in Cycle Capital’s portfolio—where it had some equity or interest—had received support from the green-tech fund since her appointment to SDTC’s board in 2016. Méthot told the House Industry and Technology Committee SDTC handed funds to MineSense, which received $4-million; GreenMantra which received $2-million; Inocucor, which received $1.2-million; and Polystyvert, which received $3.5-million. According to Méthot’s breakdown, the overall government funding these companies received added up to $10.7-million.

Méthot told MPs on Oct. 28 that the only votes she did not recuse herself from, and “may have cast unknowingly in favour of companies in which Cycle Capital had interests,” are GreenMantra, a clean-technology firm, and MineSense, a digital mining company. 

Méthot said the reason she did not recuse herself from the vote on COVID-19 relief grants was that she was “unaware” that these businesses would benefit from those measures, and that she received incorrect legal advice. She told MPs that no list of potential beneficiaries had been provided to the board, so a legal team informed the board members that they could not be in a conflict of interest.

Méthot told MPs that Cycle Capital “has never invested a penny” in 21 cases for which she declared a “potential conflict of interest” because the company was “considering the possibility of investing” in them, but eventually decided not to invest.

A whistleblower told MPs on Sept. 18 that Méthot benefited “the most” from the SDTC funding, and that she had multiple companies within the SDTC portfolio. According to the whistleblower, “there were multiple instances” concerning Méthot “where it wasn’t just that she got preferential treatment for projects; she was getting funding two or three times.”

Méthot also told MPs that Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault (Laurier—Sainte-Marie, Que.) “received nothing—zero dollars” from Cycle Capital, where he served as a strategic adviser for over 10 years. “He is not an investor. He has no shares,” she stated, responding to MPs questions about her companies ties to the minister.

Méthot says ‘no blame laid’ in AG report

She also noted the auditor general “did not issue any criticism” of Méthot personally after a thorough investigation—but that did not satisfy the MPs.

“The report of the auditor general was a damning indictment of conflict, corruption, and mismanagement of SDTC while you sat on the board. Isn’t that the case?” asked Conservative MP Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, Alta.).

“There was no blame laid,” Méthot responded. 

“Putting aside issues of conflicts of interest,” Cooper continued. “Gross mismanagement while you sat on the board—do you take responsibility for that?”

“No, I’m not going to take all responsibility for that,” replied Méthot.

Cooper later pressed the witness on whether she would be willing to provide the RCMP with the information she possesses. Méthot replied that she would answer questions, adding “I’ve got nothing to hide.” 

Liberal MP Francis Drouin (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Ont.) intervened, asserting that Conservative MPs bringing up the RCMP was “just dirty politics.”

Cooper said he interpreted Méthot’s response as a “no,” which ignited another heated exchange amongst MPs. Tension escalated when Drouin yelled, “ask her that outside,” arguing that Conservative MPs were speaking freely due to their parliamentary privilege. This prompted interventions from Méthot’s counsel and the committee chair, resulting in a short suspension of the meeting. Liberal MP Jean Yip (Scarborough—Agincourt, Ont.) proposed a motion for Cooper to apologize to the witness for “attacking” her, but that motion was dropped after a counter-motion from the Conservatives to adjourn the debate.

Bloc MP says tension in committee complicates MPs’ probe

After the meeting, committee vice-chair Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, Que.) said the ongoing tension complicates MPs’ efforts to get to the heart of the SDTC file, an issue that has dominated their meetings, and has brought the House to a standstill for more than a month.

“I think between Conservatives’ aggressiveness and the Liberals’ complacency, there was room to ask some questions to understand what happened,” Sinclair-Desgagné said. 

Sinclair-Desgagné argued Drouin “went overboard” and was “too aggressive” when he implied that Conservative MPs could be sued for their comments in committee had they expressed them outside. She also noted that Conservatives, who take an aggressive approach in their committee interventions, “reap what they sow.”

Sinclair-Desgagné also said she did not see Méthot taking responsibility for the issues at the SDTC, and instead described it in positive terms.

“It seemed like she was talking about a different organization, honestly,” said Sinclair-Desgagné.

Liberal MP Jean Yip told The Hill Times that “the Conservatives do not give time for witnesses to answer the questions and frequently interrupt them.” She said Conservative MPs “insist on yes or no responses to questions that require context and then refuse to let witnesses answer.” Conservative MPs on the committee did not respond to The Hill Times request for a comment. 

Despite the high tensions at committee, Yip argued that she feels progress is being made. “The government was proactive when it first heard of the allegations out of SDTC. The minister froze funding and mandated multiple independent investigations to get to the bottom of allegations,” she said.

ikoca@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

 

Irem Koca is a Turkish-Canadian journalist who joined The Hill Times in late 2023. She got her start in Canadian media in the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau, covering federal politics and national stories under the paper's year-long fellowship. With a background in broadcast journalism, she spent several years as a world news reporter at CNN Turkey. Her freelance work on Turkish politics has been featured in The New York Times and Reuters. She is fluent in English and Turkish. See all stories BY IREM KOCA