House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus ruled that the Trudeau government defied the authority of Parliament by refusing to hand over documents pertaining to Sustainable Development Technology Canada and its gross misconduct.
The ruling comes after an opposition motion demanded the Trudeau government hand over all documents pertaining to SDTC and the misuse of government funds to benefit companies, in which its board directors executives had conflicts of interest.
Investigations by the auditor general and ethics commissioner found SDTC’s board of directors and executives had violated its mandate by approving projects for funding that are ineligible for government funds and had violated the Conflict of Interest Act dozens of times.
In a motion put forward by the Conservative party and supported by the NDP and Bloc Québécois, the House demanded the government hand over all files, communications and financial records pertaining to the SDTC scandal to Parliament’s law clerk. The clerk is then to submit the documents to the RCMP to investigate the matter.
However, the thirty day deadline came and passed with the government failing to hand over the documents specified by the House, falling in contempt of the House.
“In some instances, only partial disclosures were made, owing either to redactions or the withholding of documents. In other instances, the House order was met with a complete refusal,” said House Speaker Fergus.
Beyond rare exceptions for the sake of national security, the House of Commons has the absolute power to compel the government to produce any documents pertaining to the House’s business.
In response, Fergus addressed the government’s failure to hand over the documents before the specified time, ruling against the Liberals.
“As it stands, the motion was adopted. The House has clearly ordered the production of certain documents, and that order has clearly not been fully complied with. The Chair cannot come to any other conclusion but to find that a prima facie question of privilege has been established,” said Fergus.
Leader of the Government in the House Karina Gould argued that the motion ordering the government to indirectly hand the SDTC documents to the RCMP was “unusual,” “novel,” and “unprecedented” and that the motion violates Charter rights while interfering in RCMP investigations.
However, Fergus rejected these claims, pointing to the Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer’s argument that the RCMP could simply reject the documents if they so pleased.
Fergus invited the Conservatives to table another motion on the matter, however he recommended that their motion be studied in a parliamentary committee before reissuing the production order.
The Conservatives have not re-tabled the motion. Instead they used their time during the latest opposition day to move a failed motion of non-confidence in the Trudeau government.
The Liberals have stated their strong opposition to Fergus’ ruling, arguing that the precedent the ruling sets will have disastrous consequences in the future.
The Trudeau government is no stranger to conflict with the House Speaker.
In 2021, the Trudeau government threatened to take Speaker Anthony Rota to court in an attempt to prevent the release of documents relating to the National Microbiology Laboratory. The issue was dropped after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for an election that his party eventually won.