Thank you, Chair.

Good evening, honourable members.

I'm appearing before you today as a private individual, having retired from ISED in January after 40 years of public service.

Within ISED, I worked on matters related to energy and clean technology. As part of my duties, I was the department's liaison with SDTC. I regularly attended board meetings and received board materials between 2017 and 2023.

SDTC board meeting notes refer to me as being there by invitation. My objective in attending those sessions was to assist the board in understanding federal policy and program developments that may have had relevance to its work. In doing so, I took my direction from the provisions of ISED's contribution agreement with SDTC, which states that federal officials must not be seen as exercising control or influencing the decisions of that organization.

In working with the board, I was also especially careful not to offer views or advice of any kind that could be seen to bias its operations, policies or decisions.

With respect to the appointment of Ms. Verschuren as chair, I had no direct role in this process. As former Minister Bains has indicated, it was handled through the normal process for order in council appointments between central agencies and the minister's office.

However, I had several conversations with Ms. Leah Lawrence, who was the CEO of SDTC at the time, including conversations seeking her assistance in encouraging applications and nominations for the position from within the clean-tech community. As she reported to you, I called her to advise her that an order in council had been issued, appointing Ms. Verschuren to the position of board chair.

We discussed Ms. Lawrence's concerns with respect to the appointment and the fact that the issue of Ms. Verschuren's potential conflict had been considered as part of the selection process. Indeed, we were both of the understanding that Ms. Verschuren had met with the conflicts commissioner to discuss the matter. On this basis, I indicated that I believed it would take another compelling reason for the decision to be reconsidered, but Ms. Lawrence was not forthcoming in raising other issues or concerns.

Thank you.

I look forward to discussing these matters with the committee and will be pleased to take your questions.