Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams on SDTC Scandal, Foreign Interference and Silencing Those on the Carbon Tax

Immediate Release
June 6, 2024

Bay of Quinte MP Ryan Williams says it has been quite a week for Liberal cover-ups, silencing and slush funds in Ottawa.

Green Slush Fund Scandal

Yesterday The Conservative Party introduced a motion calling on the government, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), and the Auditor General to hand over all documents related to Justin Trudeau’s Green Slush Fund to the RCMP within 14 days citing that the Auditor General of Canada found that Trudeau has turned SDTC into a slush fund for Liberal insiders. MP Ryan Williams stood in the House yesterday to say “We are talking about a deep level of corruption that should have been found earlier. Whistle-blowers caught this. If not for them, we would not be here. How many times have we said in the House of Commons that, if it wasn’t for whistle-blowers or this publication or journalism, we would not be here? There are too many times.” MP Williams went on to say “We are looking at where the priorities lie with the government, and we talk about corruption all the time here. Why was the priority not in ethics in the government from the start, so we could stop the corruption that we are seeing almost every day?”

The Conservative Party has stated Justin Trudeau’s ministers knew and refused to stop their friends at SDTC from engaging in corruption. A recording of a senior civil servant slammed the “outright incompetence” of the Trudeau Government, which gave $123 million worth of contracts inappropriately.

The Auditor General found SDTC:

-Did not follow conflict of interest policies in 90 cases.
-Spent nearly $76 million on projects connected to the Liberals’ friends appointed to run SDTC. 
-Spent $59 million on projects that were not allowed to have been awarded any money.
-Spent $12 million on projects that were in both a conflict of interest and ineligible for funding.
-In one instance, Trudeau’s handpicked chair of SDTC siphoned off $217,000 to her own company.
-The Auditor General made it clear that the blame for this scandal falls on Trudeau’s Industry Minister, Francois-Phillipe Champagne, who “did not sufficiently monitor” the contracts that were given to Liberal insiders.

Foreign Interference

MP Williams and the Official Opposition are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberal Government to release the names of the MPs implicated in knowingly and wittingly aiding foreign states in the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) Annual Report. The NSICOP report makes clear the Trudeau government was fully aware of foreign interference targeting our country and citizens, and that they did not act appropriately to protect our democracy from these threats. MP Williams says, “It is unacceptable that any parliamentarian would ‘wittingly’ aid a hostile foreign power to undermine our democratic process and elections which every Member of Parliament is sworn to protect.” MP Williams If it wasn’t for Conservatives relentlessly calling for a full inquiry, Trudeau would have continued to get his way and deny that he has allowed foreign interference to run rampant in Canada under his watch. MP Williams states “Only a Common Sense Conservative government will defend our democracy and stand up to foreign governments that try to meddle in our elections and target our citizens.”

Carbon Tax Cover Up

During testimony at committee, Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux stated that the government had provided him with a copy of their own estimates of the impact of the carbon tax but had put him under a gag order not to talk about it. Conservatives are calling for the government to release their own data adding that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has already proven that the Liberal carbon tax, just like the Prime Minister, is not worth the cost. MP Ryan Williams says “The PBO was clear that many Canadians are worse off under a carbon pricing regime than without because they pay more than what they receiver in rebates.” When Conservatives asked the PBO whether the government had done an economic analysis of the cost, and he said yes, but that the government is blocking its release, referring to it as a “gag order.” MP Williams says, “The Liberals must stop hiding the real cost of the carbon tax and release their report.”

MP Ryan Williams says while these scandals continue to go on in Ottawa, he is remains focused on housing issues, the need for a local detox centre and the high taxes that are plaguing residents in Bay of Quinte.