Liberal House leader wants slush-fund scandal settled in committee, not Commons
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OTTAWA — As the House of Commons remains in procedural suspended animation, Canada’s Opposition leader is standing firm on his pledge to hold the government to account.
During question period on Wednesday, Liberal House leader Karina Gould said the quagmire — triggered by a Conservative privilege motion over the government’s refusal to hand over unredacted documents related to the now-defunct Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s billion-dollar “green slush fund” scandal — should be resolved in the committee room, not the House.
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“This is a typical witch hunt from the leader of the Opposition to go after people who have nothing to do with this,” Gould said, alleging the documents her government was ordered — and still refuses — to provide contain personal information of those she maintains had no part in the scandal.
“Mr. Speaker, it is the RCMP and the auditor general themselves who raised concerns with this motion and it is the government’s view that we should send this to committee so that we can get on with the important work of this House and protect the rights of Canadians.”
Dubbed the “green slush fund” by the Tories, the contentious program was abolished earlier this year after Auditor General Karen Hogan found dozens of conflicts of interest and that the fund awarded over $400 million in lucrative government contracts for projects that not only weren’t eligible for funding, but in some cases had nothing to do with green technology.
In June, the Conservatives successfully tabled a motion ordering production of thousands of government documents with the intention of turning them over to the RCMP, but when numerous key documents were either heavily redacted or missing altogether House Speaker Greg Fergus ruled a violation of parliamentary privilege had indeed taken place, triggering the current standoff.
In response, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberals of putting procedure ahead of due process.
“Any other employer would voluntarily turn over all of the evidence to the police if it had been ripped off by its own staff,” Poilievre said.
“What is the prime minister hiding?”
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
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