MPs from all parties are accusing one another of filibustering over a privilege debate in the House now entering its sixth day of a parliamentary standoff. Conservatives are pushing for the release of all documents related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada. While all opposition parties support the motion, Conservatives are prolonging the debate.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilièvre (Carleton, Ont.) accused the Liberal government on Monday of bringing Parliament to an impasse by failing to provide all the information requested by MPs from all opposition parties.

“The prime minister has ground the work of Parliament to a halt by refusing to respect your ruling. The government must hand over evidence to the police,” Poilievre said in Question Period on Oct 7.

“Will the prime minister end the cover-up, respect your ruling, give the police the information so that we can have accountability, and get back to work?” he said.

MPs are currently in the stage of debating the amendment introduced by a Conservative MP. Liberal, NDP, and Bloc Québécois MPs say the ongoing debate has stalled other government business and opportunities to discuss important legislation.

“It is only the Conservatives that are now obstructing their own obstruction,” Government House Leader Karina Gould (Burlington, Ont.) responded. Gould said the Conservatives did not want to see the issue discussed at the House on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) Committee, as she suggested. 

“Because it would demonstrate that they are trying to upend Charter rights and override police independence,” Gould said. 

The House has been bogged down with the privilege debate since last week after House Speaker Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) ruled that the government’s failure to provide records related to the now-defunct Sustainable Development Technology Canada constituted a violation of parliamentary privilege. The auditor general of Canada and the federal ethics commissioner ruled there had been issues of conflict-of-interest breaches at SDTC. The RCMP has also confirmed that it is investigating the fund.

The June 10 motion put forth by Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.)— backed by the other opposition parties—asked the federal government to hand over all documents involving SDTC going back to 2017. This included financial records and declarations of potential conflicts of interest involving SDTC, memos, emails, and any other communications shared between government officials and the fund. The motion also asked Parliament to share these papers with the RCMP for its independent determination on whether or not a criminal investigation into the matter is warranted. 

More than a dozen departments and entities have provided the House with records related to SDTC, some of which were redacted or withheld. SDTC itself provided the House with documents on Aug. 29, some of which were partially redacted, while others were withheld on the grounds of legal privilege, according to a letter from Michel Bédard, law clerk and parliamentary counsel to the House.

Canada’s Auditor General Karen Hogan also provided the House with the necessary documents on Sept. 13, despite previously telling MPs that handing over the files of her audits impedes her independence. Hogan wrote to Bédard that she expects the information provided to the House will be used for “the sole purpose of transmission to the RCMP as contemplated by the House of Commons' order and will otherwise be held in strict confidence.”

Fergus ruled on Sept. 26 that the House’s order to produce the documents has “clearly not been fully complied with.” He said that he “cannot come to any other conclusion,” but to find that a question of privilege has been established. 

The Conservatives have intensified pressure on the government ever since the Speaker’s ruling related to what they call the “green slush fund,” while the Liberals counter that the request of documents to be shared with the RCMP is unprecedented, and threatens the separation of legislation and the judiciary powers.

Scheer revised his initial motion to refer the matter to the House Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) in line with the Speaker's ruling on Sept. 26, which stemmed from a suggestion by Gould. 

Conservative MP Luc Berthold (Mégantic-L'Érable, Que.) introduced an amendment to the motion last week, calling for witnesses to appear before the committee, including Hogan, the RCMP commissioner, the minister of innovation, the clerk of the Privy Council, and the acting president of the SDTC.  

Debate on a privilege motion has priority over all orders of the day, including government orders and private members’ business, which is why House business is at a standstill. However, it does not interfere with routine proceedings, statements by members, Question Period, royal assent, recorded votes, or the adjournment of the House, according to Mathieu Gravel, director of media relations for the House Speaker.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, Ont.) said the government “obstructed a lawful order” of the House by not turning over the records which the House has asked for and “paralyzed” the Parliament.

“[The government] has this Parliament paralyzed and unable to deal with the misery and chaos that has been created,” he said.

NDP MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC.), said that his party will vote in favour of the privilege motion before the House, but criticized the Conservatives for filibustering the process.

“We will await patiently the day when Conservatives stop enjoying the sounds of their own voices,” he said. “When will Conservatives allow us to execute a vote on this so we can get the business going and get this investigation underway?”  

Conservative MP Kyle Seeback (Dufferin-Caledon, Ont.) argued there is “a lot of stuff that needs to be litigated” in the House before going to a vote. “Why does it have to go to the vote?” he said responding to MacGregor. “Use whatever influence you have left from your supply-and-confidence agreement and tell [the Liberal government] just to release the documents. And then this all ends,” he said.

Gould previously argued that the Conservatives were attempting to use extraordinary powers and privileges “to get around judicial oversight and to basically trample the Charter of Rights of Canadians.” 

Justice Minister Arif Virani (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.) criticized the Conservatives from a similar perspective on Oct. 7, saying are not safeguarding police independence and equated their actions with those of authoritarian regimes.

“I guess the leader of the opposition and his minions are sharing their blatant observation and favouritism toward authoritarian tactics in this House,” Virani said, speaking in the House.

NDP MPs have emphasized that they will vote in favour of the Conservative motion, but criticized the Conservatives for filibustering the parliamentary process.

Liberal MPs, meanwhile, objected to Conservative MPs calling Annette Verschuren a "Liberal insider" or “Liberal cronies and buddies” during their interventions in the House, citing the former SDTC-chair’s history of working with Conservative politicians. Verschuren, the former head of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, resigned in November after the ethics commissioner launched an investigation.

Verschuren reportedly served as an adviser to Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and as an adviser to finance minister Jim Flaherty. She has also reportedly accompanied prime minister Stephen Harper to the 2006 North American Trilateral Summit in Mexico as the CEO of Home Depot Canada at the time.

The RCMP, which confirmed its investigation into SDTC, has also confirmed that it received documents from the Office of the House of Commons Law Clerk.

“The RCMP will continuously assess information and documents that may give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy, which is important to ensuring that all applicable legal standards are upheld during this review,” Jean Turner, an RCMP media officer, wrote in an email to The Hill Times on Oct. 7.

What happened?

The Conservative push to involve the RCMP in the SDTC debacle goes back to a series of parliamentary committee hearings, which also prompted investigations by Hogan and by Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein.

Von Finckenstein concluded in his July 24 report that Verschuren had a private financial interest in funding decisions related to NRStor. “She participated in those decisions knowing that NRStor would benefit from the funding,” read the report. 

The commissioner said these decisions furthered Verschuren’s private interests, and that she should have recused herself, adding that she violated the rules by not doing so. 

Verschuren resigned from her role in November 2023—as did then-SDTC CEO Leah Lawrence—after the federal ethics commissioner launched an investigation into Verschuren’s alleged misconduct.

Verschuren had also confirmed at the House Ethics Committee on Nov. 8 that, as chair, she participated in approving COVID-19 relief grants to NRStor—an energy company of which she is the CEO—in 2020 and 2021, totalling more than $200,000.

According to Hogan’s June 4 report, SDTC violated its own conflict-of-interest policies in 90 cases that were connected to approval of nearly $76-million in funding awarded to projects. The report also found the foundation gave cash to 10 ineligible projects out of the 58 reviewed. These 10 projects were awarded $59-million despite not meeting key requirements set out between the government and the foundation.

During her appearance at the House Government Operations and Estimates Committee on June 10, Hogan said the Conservative motion to produce the documents impedes her independence. 

The now-defunct not-for-profit SDTC was established in 2001. It supported the development and implementation of clean technologies that provide solutions to climate change. The agency had a $1-billion to distribute to small and medium-sized enterprises in the clean-tech sector under its five-year agreement with ISED that started in 2021. 

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