Tories say privilege motion is exercise in accountability

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OTTAWA — While the Liberals breathlessly accuse the Conservatives of upending Canada’s democracy, the Tories say they’re merely trying to hold the government to account.

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Business in the House of Commons ground to a halt this week as MPs deal with Conservative privilege motions calling on the Trudeau Liberals to make good with a June document production order related to the controversy surrounding the now-defunct Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s (SDTC) billion-dollar “green slush fund.”

The contentious fund was abolished earlier this year after Auditor General Karen Hogan found the organization had violated conflict of interest policies 90 times, and had awarded millions 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 — an order that Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer said resulted in numerous key documents either heavily redacted or missing altogether.

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“It’s quite clear that Liberal insiders were funnelling taxpayers’ money to their own companies,” Scheer told the Toronto Sun. 

“These Liberal appointees sat on a board that made decisions as to which companies got grants worth millions of dollars, and the auditor general uncovered that almost $400 million was funnelled to companies that the board members themselves owned, or had interest in. That’s not only a massive conflict of interest, but we believe that could rise to the level of criminality.”

The privilege motion currently on the floor of the House of Commons supersedes all other business, bringing the government to a standstill.

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Under the current minority government, House business can’t continue until either debate collapses, or if the Liberals can convince either the NDP or Bloc to support a closure motion — something neither party so far seems interested in doing.

One week ago, House Speaker Greg Fergus ruled the government had indeed violated parliamentary privilege, triggering a standoff that the Liberals claim represents a threat to Canada’s democracy.

“What’s happening right now is something every single Canadian should be extremely alarmed about,” said Liberal House Leader Karina Gould, during a demonstrative press conference Thursday, accusing the Tories of “blurring the line” between Canada’s legislative and judicial branches.

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“What we’re seeing the Conservatives do right now is attempt to use those extraordinary powers and extraordinary privileges to get around judicial oversight, and to basically trample the charter rights of Canadians.”

Scheer dismissed Gould’s comments as a “desperate attempt” at damage control.

“Our motion simply requires the government to hand over evidence to the police, it doesn’t direct police in any way,” he said.

“It doesn’t prescribe what the police must do, it’s basically just a production order to ensure that the RCMP have all of the evidence, so they can made a decision with all the information.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

X: @bryanpassifiume

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