Canada’s Ethics Commissioner has ruled that another Trudeau-connected bureaucrat broke the law by violating Section 6(1) and 21 of the Conflict of Interest Act.
Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein released his report on Wednesday regarding the conduct of Annette Verschuren when she was Chairperson of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)—a Trudeau-funded group that provided grants to small and medium-sized businesses specializing in sustainable technology.
In his report, the commissioner stated that Verschuren needed to avoid certain meetings and decisions to prevent conflicts of interest, because she was involved with companies that were applying for funding from SDTC. Verschuren didn’t recuse herself from the meetings, and instead remained in them and simply abstained from voting.
The ethics report details how this deviated from SDTC’s Conflict of Interest Policy and fell short of legal requirements.
“Because of her roles as a director of MaRS, the Verschuren Centre, and SDTC, Ms. Verschuren improperly furthered the interests of the beneficiaries of SDTC funding to companies associated with those accelerators,” the report stated.
Verschuren stepped down from the role last year when the controversy into what the Opposition Conservatives call the “Green slush fund” first arose.
Whistleblower speaks
A recent whistleblower who previously worked in the SDTC alleged widespread mismanagement and corruption had taken place within the group. The whistleblower, Israr Ahmad, said the SDTC has improperly funded nearly $150 million taxpayer dollars to businesses that had ties to SDTC executives themselves.
Ahmad said numerous SDTC employees brought up concerns of mismanagement of funds and almost all were subsequently fired.
Nine autocorrects? Boissonnault’s ex-partner blames text message scandal on repeated typo
Another Liberal ethics scandal is brewing as Opposition MPs look into whether Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault violated the regulations that forbid cabinet ministers from managing or running a business while serving as an elected official. Boissonnault is accused of carrying on with his GHI business dealings after taking office in September 2021.
Boissonnault denies the accusations.
