Whistleblower on Embattled Green Fund Says He’s Vindicated, Deplores Lack of Accountability

The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill is framed by leaves in Ottawa on Aug. 27, 2024. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The man who blew the whistle on a culture of conflict of interest at the federal green fund says he feels vindicated after an auditor general report confirmed his information, yet he criticized the lack of accountability in the affair so far.

The whistleblower, whose name was withheld, testified before the House of Commons public accounts committee on Sept. 18 as it studies the report of the auditor general into Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).

The auditor general sampled a portion of projects supported by SDTC, a federal arms-length foundation supporting green technologies companies, and found numerous instances of board members allocating themselves money.

“The release of the auditor general’s report in June concluded a two-year effort I initiated to expose how SDTC’s idealistic mission was co-opted by a group of corrupt executives, board members, and insiders within the clean tech ecosystem,” said the whistleblower, who was making his second appearance before a committee.

After Auditor General Karen Hogan released her report, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, whose department oversees the fund, said SDTC projects would be moved under the National Research Council.

Champagne said in a June statement SDTC had “played a critical role in the growth and success of the clean technology sector in Canada, while citing “serious weaknesses in SDTC’s governance.”

The whistleblower said the auditor’s report had “conclusively validated and vindicated every single one of the issues I initially raised.” He said Champagne’s announcement to essentially dissolve SDTC was a “clear indication of the severity of the misconduct.”

The whistleblower remarked that the minister had reacted slowly even though he knew of the allegations in early 2023. He also accused Champagne of misleading MPs about when he had known about the allegations, and of steering the recommendations in a fact-finding review of the allegations conducted by external firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.

The government announced in October 2023 it was suspending funding to SDTC projects based on the review’s findings.

“As soon as allegations were brought forward, my Department acted swiftly to address the situation,” said Champagne in the June statement.

The Epoch Times reached out to Champagne’s office and SDTC for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

First Went to His MP

The whistleblower told the committee the first person he had raised SDTC concerns with was Liberal MP George Chahal, his elected representative, in May 2022 during an SDTC event.

“He assured me that he took this situation seriously and guaranteed that he would facilitate contact with the appropriate people in the federal government and the auditor general’s office,” said the whistleblower, who alleged that Chahal subsequently refused to engage with him.

The Epoch Times reached out to Chahal for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

The whistleblower said he then began to search for another entity to report to, including the ethics commissioner and eventually the auditor general.

The whistleblower was making his second appearance before a House committee, having appeared before the industry committee in December 2023. He had then accused SDTC of improperly disbursing nearly $150 million to private companies, some linked to the fund’s leadership.

The industry committee met earlier this week to continue its probe of SDTC and heard from the ethics commissioner and SDTC board chair Annette Verschuren. The latter resigned as chair shortly after the ethics commissioner started its investigation of her.

In a report released in July, Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein found that Verschuren had breached the Conflict of Interest Act for participating in board decisions benefitting her own financial interests.

Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner legal counsel Michael Aquilino told the industry committee on Sept. 16 that Verschuren had breached the Conflict of Interest Act 24 times.

Verschuren told the committee she accepted the ethics commissioner’s findings but said she had “acted in good faith, on legal advice, and established board practices that predated my tenure.”

Verschuren also told the committee she had never applied to the position of SDTC board chair but was instead recruited by the Liberal government. This clashes with previous testimonies from government officials who said it was an open process with other candidates.

Conservative MPs have been leading the charge around the SDTC issue, calling it a Liberal “slush fund,” but MPs from other parties have also been increasingly critical.

Along with conducting probes in committees, MPs have pushed for all documents pertaining to SDTC be sent to the RCMP for investigation.

The RCMP and the auditor general have not flagged any criminality allegations over the issue.