A House of Commons order for the government to hand over the documents related to a green technology foundation has escalated into a Parliamentary gridlock that is showing no end in sight.
For over a week, Conservative MPs have carried on debate about the Liberal government’s refusal to provide unredacted documents related to Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s (SDTC) alleged misspending of taxpayers’ money. The Tories want the RCMP to investigate the issue, and say the police force needs access to unredacted documents. They have rejected the option of having those documents be sent to a committee to be studied.
The Liberals say some of he documents have already been released, and say the matter should be evaluated further in a committee.
SDTC Suspended
The federal government suspended SDTC’s ability to fund new projects in the fall of 2023 after receiving whistleblower allegations and commissioned a third-party review of the claims.Liberal Concerns Over Charter Rights
The House of Commons passed a motion introduced by Conservatives in June ordering the government and SDTC to hand over records related to the green fund within 30 days. The vote passed 174–148, with only the Liberals voting against it. Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull said that while there had been “lapses” in the fund’s management, cabinet was taking action to address it and that there was no evidence of criminal behaviour that warranted RCMP involvement.
In late September, House Speaker Greg Fergus ruled that the Liberals had not complied with the order to hand over the SDTC documents. He said in some instances, only partial disclosures were made due to redactions, while in other cases the House order was refused altogether.
House Leader Karina Gould has argued that the House order may trespass on certain charter rights around police investigations and privacy, adding that the order exceeded the authority of the House by attempting to secure documents for a third party, the RCMP.
Fergus said in his ruling that the House has the “undoubted right to order the production of any and all documents from any entity or individual,” while also noting that it was “unusual, novel and unprecedented.”
NDP Supports Tory Motion, Bloc Still Considering
During Question Period on Oct. 2, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Conservatives of wanting to “play politics with Canadians’ charter rights” and said the party was attempting to gain control over the judicial process. “That’s banana republic-style behaviour that the Conservative Party is pushing. We will always stand up for Canadians’ charter rights and the independence of our institutions,” he said.In response, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberals were effectively arguing that the charter gave the government the right to allow executives to take taxpayers’ money, give it to their own companies, and then hide the evidence from police. He added that Canadians have the “charter right to know where their money went.”
“We’re not just going to let $400 million of corruption be swept under the rug,” Poilievre told reporters on Oct. 8. “So we say, let’s end this now. Let’s get Parliament back to work by handing over the documents to the police.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has also thrown his support behind the Conservative party on the SDTC stalemate, telling reporters on Oct. 9 that there’s “nothing stopping” the documents from being released to the police.
“The ball is the government’s court. They could do the right thing, move forward on accountability, and Parliament can move ahead,” he said, while also blaming Conservative MPs for “blocking everything” in the House of Commons.
Blanchet has said unless the Liberal government passed C-319 and C-282 around supply management, he would start negotiations with the other parties to bring down the government. Liberal MPs voted against a recent Bloc motion recommending a royal recommendation for Bill C-319, arguing they were against setting the precedent of an opposition day being used to get a royal recommendation.
