Former Chair of Embattled Green Fund Says She Did No ‘Wrong’ as Testimony Cut Short

The Canada flag flies atop the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 5, 2023. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

The former chair of a federal green fund told MPs she didn’t do anything wrong, a day after a whistleblower alleged publicly the organization is corrupt.

“I believe the success of the projects SDTC has funded demonstrate that the board under my leadership has done a lot that is right,” Annette Verschuren told the House of Commons industry committee on Dec. 12.

She said she resigned from the board on Dec. 1 “not because I have done anything wrong” but because she believes “the organization’s work is too important to be compromised by the distraction that these allegations have caused.”

Ms. Verschuren, since 2019, served as board chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), an arms-length federal foundation investing in green technologies.

The foundation has faced whistleblower complaints in early 2023 alleging corruption and a toxic work culture.

A whistleblower testified before the industry committee on Dec. 11, saying that a “staggering level of incompetence, willful ignorance, and corruption” has resulted in SDTC “improperly distributing almost $150 million in taxpayer dollars just in the past few years, and abusing dozens of people that have only tried to talk about the truth.”

The whistleblower, whose name was withheld, told MPs that Ms. Verschuren had tried to obtain $2.2 million from SDTC for her Verschuren Centre. He said the executive supported the proposal but that it was rejected by the project review committee due to a conflict of interest.

Ms. Verschuren told MPs on Dec. 12 that she had declared her conflict of interest, but the whistleblower alleged she had been indirectly emailing executives to check on the progress of the application.

Conservative MP Rick Perkins broached the issue with Ms. Verschuren. “I'll just remind you, you’re under oath, and we had a whistleblower here last night. Did you send any communication before the investment committee asking the status of that project to management?”

“Oh, honestly, I don’t recall,” said Ms. Verschuren.

The whistleblower also alleged that after the funding for the Verschuren Centre was denied, future board meeting minutes encouraged SDTC employees to help the Centre get funding from elsewhere.

Mr. Perkins read aloud committee minutes from one such meeting.

“SDTC will shift its efforts to discussions with other potential funding sources, with the hope that the diligence conducted today can be transferred,” he read.

Mr. Perkins said that the Verschuren Centre subsequently received almost $10 million in funding from various programs. “Seems like it pays pretty well to be a well-connected Liberal,” he said.

“Look, we’re entrepreneurs, we are investing in the future of our country,” responded Ms. Verschuren. “There are many of us that are in the clean tech sector. This is a tough sector. It is not easy to develop projects like we are developing.”

‘I’m Non-Partisan’

Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara responded to accusations from the Conservatives that SDTC is a Liberal “green slush fund.” He highlighted in committee that Ms. Verschuren served as an advisor to previous Tory governments and that she donated the maximum amount to Jean Charest’s leadership campaign in 2022.

“I’m non-partisan,” said Ms. Verschuren in agreeing with Mr. Sorbara. Political donations records from Elections Canada show she has donated to both major parties, with her latest contribution in May 2023 going to the Liberals.

Ms. Verschuren, who had been testifying remotely, started to answer a question asked by Mr. Sorbara then stood up mid-way through her answer, left her computer and the connection was lost. The committee was not able to reconnect with her.

Mr. Sorbara had asked Ms. Verschuren about the concept of recusing oneself to avoid conflict of interest.

“I understand business, I’ve been on boards for almost 30 years. I take responsibility and governance very seriously. I am chair of a governance committee of a major company in Canada. I understand...” she said before the connection cut.

Ms. Verschuren, a former Home Depot CEO, and SDTC board member Guy Ouimet are under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner for having approved COVID-19 relief payments to their own businesses.

They have said they received legal advice that their actions were proper because conflicts of interest had been previously disclosed. “We acted in good faith,” said Ms. Verschuren.

SDTC and Ms. Verschuren have not responded to requests for comment.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett, who serves as his party’s ethics critic and is an associate member of the industry committee, said on Dec. 13 his party will expand its probe into SDTC, but didn’t provide any details.

He noted the “explosive whistleblower testimony,” Ms. Verschuren “fleeing” her testimony, and whistleblower allegations that Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne “lied” before the ethics committee.

Mr. Champagne told the committee he had not been briefed until Sept. 27 about the allegations against SDTC, but the whistleblower said this was not true, adding that the minister’s office was deeply involved in the matter.

“The Deputy Minister [Simon Kennedy] spoke to the minister’s office and the minister on several occasions before the briefings were finalized, including edits that were made on behalf of the minister’s office,” said the whistleblower.

Mr. Champagne announced in early October that the funding of new projects was being suspended at SDTC in light of the allegations.

His department had commissioned a fact-finding exercise by a third-party firm which found that conflict of interest rules were not being systematically followed. Mr. Champagne did not fire anyone at SDTC in response.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre raised the issue in the House of Commons on Dec. 12.

“Yesterday, a courageous whistleblower testified the prime minister’s innovation minister ‘lied’ to the committee,” he said. “Why are the minister and his boss, the prime minister, covering up this scandal and waste of Canadian tax dollars?”

“It’s not surprising that the Conservative leader doesn’t want to talk about his failed Republican-style plan to shut down Parliament last week,” replied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.