SLOBODIAN: A few Liberal MPs who we won't miss when they're gone

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expects Canadians to hand him a fourth term because the Liberal gang has more work to do.

These recent examples expose how some Liberal MPs, above being bothered with pesky things like accountability and ethics, have ‘served’ Canadians.

Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal did nothing and ignored a whistleblower who contacted him about millions in green slush subsidies going to friends of management in Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was accused by this whistleblower of tinkering with a report into conflicts of interest to “protect Trudeau’s hand-picked conflicted” SDTC chair Annette Verschuren. She resigned during an investigation into Conflict of Interest Act breaches.

The SDTC was disbanded on June 4, 2023. Auditors uncovered 186 conflicts of interest involving agency directors that day.

Fuming yet? Buckle up, there’s more.

Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault repeatedly told the Commons ethics committee that he had no dealings — apparently calls and texts don’t count — with an Edmonton import firm that paid him $220,000 while he was serving as a member of cabinet.

And despite three terrorists arrested in the past three months who slipped under the radar, Immigration Minister Marc Miller insisted he’s confident security screening of foreigners are reliable.

You may recall that Chahal was fined $500 in 2022 before the federal election after being caught on video removing an opponent’s campaign flyer from a Skyview home and placing it with one of his flyers. Pfft. That was just kid’s stuff.

The whistleblower, identified as Witness Number One, named Chahal during testimony before the Commons public accounts committee earlier this week.

Witness Number One claimed he approached Chahal in May 2022 with serious concerns about irregularities at SDTC and was assured by the MP that the Auditor General’s Office and appropriate federal parties would be alerted.

Then he went AWOL.

“His subsequent refusal to engage forced us to spend the next five months trying and failing to contact various agencies including the Department of Industry, the Ethics Commissioner, as well as the Public Integrity Commissioner, to name just a few.”

During his two years working at SDTC, this whistleblower oversaw approval and disbursement of more than $200 million in funding.

Created by Parliament in 2001 to subsidize green technology, SDTC paid out $856 million in subsidies between 2017 and 2023.

Witness Number One testified he, along with 20 other whistleblowers, documented instances of inside dealing and misfeasance involving payments of millions in subsidies to friends of management.

Chahal was not implicated in any wrongdoing, but  refusing to act when told of unlawful contact is astounding negligence.

Witness Number One contacted the Auditor General’s office in December 2022.

“It took almost a full year after we initially talked to the MP that this file eventually ended up at the Department of Industry.”

The whistleblower said SDTC “speaks volumes about the depths of corruption not just within the Department of Industry but within the government and bureaucracy.”

“It’s not that every person at the board level was corrupted, a lot of them were just frankly morons who didn’t see what was happening.”

Here’s the kicker. Funds are still being channeled to green tech companies, including those previously caught up in the conflicts of interest. It warms the heart to know these ‘special friends’ benefitting from favours won’t have to worry about silly things like food or gas bills, doesn’t it?

And that brings us to Employment’s Boissonnault who was under the microscope again Thursday when he admitted to the Commons ethics committee that he conducted private business while serving as a member of cabinet — something he had previously denied, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

Fortunately for Canadians, but most unfortunately for Boissonnault, Conservative St. Alberta-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper interrogated him. Personally, if I was a naughty Liberal MP, Cooper is the last guy I’d want to face after fibbing.

“Why didn’t you tell the full truth the last time you appeared before the committee? Why are we only finding out about this now? Is it because you need a new cover story?” asked Cooper.

“You wanted to cover your butt. Very simply Mr. Boissonnault, do you think Canadians are stupid?”

“You, sir, lack the character and judgment to serve in cabinet. If you had any integrity you would resign.”

Under the Conflict Of Interest Act cabinet members are restricted from undisclosed dealings.

Well, Boissonnault acknowledged holding 50 percent stock in Global Health Imports Corporation, a $36 million-a year medical supply contractor he founded in 2020 with a partner.

Boissonnault repeatedly claimed he had no dealings with Global Health while in cabinet. “I had no operational role in the company,” he said. When pressed, he admitted he did exchange calls and texts about an accounting matter with his partner in September 2022.

And he contritely said he regretted “in hindsight” going into business with Edmonton’s Stephen Anderson. But it had “no impact” on his ministerial duties and he has always followed his “ethical obligations.” 

Evidently, not always.

Conservative Leeds-Grenville MP Michael Barrett had a problem with that.

“A year after you claim to have been done being involved in the operations of this business, you are expecting us to believe you are dealing with your business partner on accounts payable but not dealing with him on accounts receivable,” said Barrett.

“That is far too incredible for anyone to be believed.”

And finally, Immigration minister Miller told the Commons public safety committee Thursday he’s confident in security screening of foreigners.

And really, who are we to doubt the Montreal MP, despite the big foul-up with three terrorists. Well, three that have gotten caught. Are there others out there?

MPs want to know how Egyptian national Ahmed Eldidi, 62, and his adult son Mostafa, 26, of Scarborough, Ont. cleared security checks.

The elder Eldidi was in a brutal 2015 ISIS torture video titled Deterring Spies.

RCMP arrested them in July on charges of plotting a “serious, volent attack” at an undisclosed Toronto location. That was two months after the video star was granted Canadian citizenship.

Pakistani national Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was arrested September 4 on charges of plotting the mass murder of Jews Brooklyn, New York. He entered Canada on a foreign study permit in 2023.

These dangerous oversights despite the mandated fingerprinting, photographing and biometric background checks on foreign visitors mandated by Parliament in 2013, a program that cost $214 million by 2020.

Conservative MP Raquel Dancho (Kildonan-St. Paul) wanted to know why Miller is so confident in the screening process now.

“What specific steps have you taken in the past few weeks to ensure no more alleged terrorists gain entry to Canada?” she asked.

Miller said this was stuff he couldn’t speak publicly about.

Just trust him. Trust them all because he Liberals still have work to do.

Mistakes of this severity in the private sector would get people immediately fired — at best.

Tick tock.

Hang in fed up fellow Canadians, an election’s coming.