Scandal-plagued 'green slush fund' shut down

The Trudeau government is shutting down its scandal-plagued Sustainable Development Technology Canada fund, after a scathing Auditor-General's report found contracting rules being ignored, board members voting in clear conflicts of interest, and funding being given to ineligible projects, 

Government shuts down scandal-plagued cleantech fund after scathing auditor report | National Post | Christopher Nardi:

June 4, 2024 "Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced he is shutting down Sustainable Development Technology Canada — a  scandal-plagued cleantech fund derogatively referred to as the 'green slush fund' by Conservative MPs — in response to a scathing auditor general report on Tuesday. The government plans to transfer STDC’s funding responsibilities to the National Research Council (NRC).... 

"Auditor General Karen Hogan found that one out of six projects funded by STDC that she audited to the tune of millions were ineligible. [She] also found the organization had serious governance issues.... The auditor also found that the federal public service consistently disregarded its own contracting rules when it awarded $209 million worth of contracts to consulting firm McKinsey, which she described as a symptom of larger issues with the government’s overall procurement practices.... Hogan published two scathing reports Tuesday on how the government manages taxpayer funds either though professional services contracts or funding granted by STDC.

"A first audit of nearly 100 contracts awarded since 2011 to controversial consulting firm McKinsey & Company found 'frequent disregard for procurement policies and guidance' and infrequent proof of value for money.... 71 per cent of those contracts, worth $118 million, were awarded on a non-competitive basis. It also took a swipe at the government’s central purchasing agency, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), for failing to challenge other federal organizations when they issued contracts that appeared to overlap....

"Hogan audited 33 of the 97 contracts granted to McKinsey since 2011 and found that critical information was missing in over half (19) of them, such as why the contract was needed, what were the expected deliverables and if they were all provided, and whether the “ultimate intent” of the contract was met. 'All of the above meant that value for money could not be demonstrated for these contracts,' she wrote....

"In her report on STDC, Hogan says she found 'significant lapses' in the foundation’s governance and how it managed public funds. Between 2017 and 2023, STDC’s board approved $836 million worth of funding aimed at helping green technology projects start up, scale up, support their seed funding round, or develop partnerships and networks. But the AG found that the foundation gave out dozens of funding awards — totalling nearly $60 million — to projects that didn’t meet its eligibility criteria, failed to follow its conflict-of-interest policies in nearly 100 cases, and that its board didn’t even have the minimum number of members required by law.

“'We found that the foundation awarded funding to projects that were ineligible, that conflicts of interest existed in some instances, and that certain requirements in the Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology Act were not met,' reads the report. 'It’s not always clear that funding decisions made on behalf of Canadian taxpayers were appropriate and justified,” Hogan added in a statement. 'We found 90 cases where their records showed that members of the board who had declared a conflict of interest were involved in discussions and then voted on awarding funding to a project, and that should not happen,' she told the Commons public accounts committee Tuesday morning.... 

"STDC has been in turmoil since the media reported on internal whistleblower reports flagging significant governance and conflict of issues within the organization beginning in February 2023. There are at least five ongoing or completed investigations into the STDC’s governance, labour practices and funding decisions, including by the AG and the federal ethics commissioner. The president of the board of directors, Annette Verschuren, resigned last year after being the subject of an investigation by the ethics commissioner. She admitted to having approved more than $200,000 in subsidies to the company NRStor, which she runs. The president and CEO of SDTC, Leah Lawrence, also resigned."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ottawa-ignored-rules-hiring-mckinsey-auditor-general

“Billion-dollar green slush fund scandal”: Conservatives push for answers to whistleblower claims | Global News | December 12, 2023:

Auditor-General puts ArriveCAN cost at $59 Million

Canada's Auditor-General estimates that the ArriveCAN travel app, originally expected to cost $80,000, actually cost almost $60 million, but addthat poor record keeping makes it impossible to determine the true figure. 

Total cost of ArriveCan 'impossible to determine' due to poor record-keeping, AG report finds | CBC News } Darren Major:

February 12, 2024 - "The final cost of the controversial ArriveCan app is impossible to determine due to poor financial record-keeping, a new auditor general report has found. It is just one of the findings that Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan highlighted in a damning report about the pandemic-era tool....

"Hogan found that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Public Services and Procurement Canada 'repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCan application.' 'This is probably the first example that I've seen such a glaring disregard for some of the most basic and fundamental policies and rules,' Hogan told the House public accounts committee on Monday.

"'I have to say I am deeply concerned by what this audit didn't find,' she told MPs on the committee. 'We didn't find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made — and that paper trail should have existed."

"CBSA said previously the development and operation of the app cost an estimated $54 million. Hogan estimates the project cost was $59.5 million — but, as the report notes, she was only able to arrive at that figure based on the information available to her.

"'We found that financial records were not well-maintained by the Canada Border Services Agency. We were unable to determine a precise cost for the ArriveCan application because of [the agency's] poor documentation and weak controls,' the report says.... 18 per cent of invoices submitted by outside contractors that worked on the app didn't have 'sufficient supporting documentation' to accurately determine the cost of the project.

"Hogan told the committee that the government 'paid too much' for the project and that poor record-keeping compromised accountability. The report also notes that the CBSA has estimated that $12.2 million of the $59.5 million estimate could have been unrelated to ArriveCan. Hogan said she was unable to determine what was included in spending on the app and what wasn't.

"CBSA depended heavily on third-party contractors to develop the app. The report cites that reliance as a major factor in its ballooning costs. Hogan's report suggests that a reduction in the use of outside contractors could have lowered costs.... As an example, the report estimates that the per diem costs for external ArriveCan contractors was $1,090, while the average daily cost of an equivalent internal position is $675.

"The CBSA said in a statement Monday that it's implementing the recommendations Hogan made in her report. The agency also argued that the app needed to be rolled out quickly at the start of the pandemic.... Hogan told MPs on Monday that seeking outside help for the app at the start of the pandemic was 'reasonable.' But she said she would have expected less reliance on outside contractors as the project continued. 'We didn't see that transition, whether it be that the public service take over some of the operations of the application or that there be a transfer of some knowledge or skill,' she said.

"Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blasted the government over the app's costs and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of 'wasting [taxpayers'] money.' He promised to cut back on third-party outsourcing if his party forms government after the next election. 'Public servants do the work more accountably and they do it more affordably,' Poilievre told reporters outside the House of Commons on Monday. 'We're going to save money by reversing Trudeau's doubling of outsourcing.'"

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/auditor-general-report-arrivecan-1.7111043

ArriveCAN app was a hot mess: auditor general report | About That | CBC News | February 13, 2024:

House committee wants Trudeau Foundation audit

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has voted unanimously to have Canada's Auditor-General investigate the Chretien government's 2002 endowment of $125 million to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. 

Taxpayer-funded Trudeau Foundation's $125 million endowment faces audit | Western Standard | Christopher Oldcorn:

Sep 22, 2023 - "The Commons Public Accounts committee unanimously voted 10-0 on Thursday to instruct the Auditor General to investigate the initial funds provided by taxpayers to support the Trudeau Foundation. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the government gave the Foundation $125 million, some of which was used to purchase stocks in China.

"'I would like that the Auditor General within her powers look into the original agreement with the Government of Canada, which gave $125 million to the Trudeau Foundation,' said Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, QC), sponsor of the motion.... 'It is very unusual that a foundation with the name of an individual receive public funds,' said Sinclair-Desgagné. 'There are many foundations that have names of individuals, but they never receive public funds like the Trudeau Foundation. That imposes some responsibilities and obligations and we need to make sure.'

"MPs passed the motion 'that the Auditor General investigate the funding agreement between the Government of Canada and the Trudeau Foundation particularly as regards to the Foundation’s compliance with its obligations under this agreement.' 'The language could not be any clearer,” said Sinclair-Desgagné. 'We are asking for an investigation'.... 

"Parliament in 2002 approved the $125 million endowment. 'What is a more fitting legacy to the man who symbolized youth, excellence and the innovative spirit?' said then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

"Opposition MPs questioned the funding at the time. 'Access to Information does not apply to these foundations,” then-Canadian Alliance MP Val Meredith (Surrey-White Rock, BC) told a 2003 Commons Public Accounts committee hearing. 'We don’t have any control over what the agreement says, what they do with the money or whether they are spending it in the way it is supposed to be spent.' [The Foundation was put under FOI requirements in 2007 by the Harper government - gd] 

"Earlier, people said that up to 2021, the Foundation had an unknown amount of money in Chinese company shares. 'We had two investments,” Edward Johnson, chair of the board, told a June 8 hearing. The China portfolio had stocks in Tencent Holdings Limited, a video game company from Shenzhen, and in the software firm Baidu.

"The Foundation received a $140,000 donation from someone linked to China's Communist Youth League. After this came out, the CEO and the board quickly stepped down on April 10..... Justin Trudeau claimed he was not involved with the Foundation named after his family. However, his brother Alexandre was the executive director and he [the PM] did meet with a donor from China.

“'Those people who are trying to get short-term political gain by increasing polarization and partisanship in this country by launching completely unfounded and ungrounded attacks against charities or foundations must not succeed,' Trudeau told reporters on April 11."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/taxpayer-funded-trudeau-foundations-125-million-endowment-faces-audit/article_f5f924aa-593e-11ee-be84-abd0ae3f9487.html

Trudeau Foundation Uncovered | Senator Denise Batters | September 7, 2023: