Mr. Speaker, the scandal continues. Parliament continues to uncover more evidence of the shameful record of the Prime Minister and the Liberal government after nine long years. Canadians are once again seeing that the Liberal government is not worth the corruption. It is deeply concerning to witness the government covering up another scandal.

Every day, Conservatives expose more of the Prime Minister's corruption. We bring forward important testimony and new evidence that the Liberal government has tried to hide from Canadians. It is because of this corrupt and potentially criminal behaviour that Conservatives must rise in the House to bring home the facts, directly to Canadians. With so much going on, it is important to bring all Canadians up to speed on the deeply troubling situation that has paralyzed Parliament.

For weeks, the Prime Minister has defied the will of Parliament by refusing to produce documents ordered by the House of Commons. For weeks, Conservatives have demanded that he surrender this evidence so parliamentarians can uncover the corruption that has seeped into another Liberal green slush fund: Sustainable Development Technology Canada, also known as SDTC. This is my second time rising in the House, and I will continue to rise as long as the Liberals refuse to hand over evidence to the RCMP. Conservatives will not allow the Prime Minister or his caucus to hide the truth that Canadians deserve.

How did we get here? For those just tuning into this scandal, I would like to explain how SDTC started to rot. According to the program's website, SDTC was a government-funded program that claimed to help “Canadian companies develop and deploy sustainable technologies by delivering critical funding support at every stage of their journey — from seed to success.”

What the program's website does not tell Canadians is that the SDTC program became corrupt when the Liberals made changes to its board of directors. In 2019, under the direction of the Liberal industry minister, new appointments were made to the SDTC board. The website does not tell us that many of these appointees' own companies would soon be caught in conflicts of interest with the same funds they were responsible for handing out. The SDTC website does not tell us that Liberal insiders began to siphon funds into their own pockets and were getting rich for years while the Prime Minister and his cabinet turned a blind eye.

How do we know this happened? In a tremendously brave manner, whistle-blowers came forward to call out the corruption they saw while working at SDTC. Without their honesty, the scandal may have never been uncovered. Thanks to these whistle-blowers, the alarms started to sound on the Liberal government.

The ensuing investigations would suggest SDTC's negligence was much more than just mismanagement of funds. I refer to investigations, plural, because both the Ethics Commissioner and the Auditor General have reported findings of greed and corruption that were allowed to thrive under the Liberal government's watch. Over the course of multiple investigations, including investigations by Conservatives at committees, it seems Parliament has only scratched the surface of the Liberal corruption. What started as tens of thousands of Canadian tax dollars being quietly directed to Liberal insiders turned into hundreds of thousands, which turned into millions, then tens of millions and finally hundreds of millions of dollars.

Multiple investigations have revealed that through the green slush fund, $390 million in funding was approved for projects that had extremely concerning conflicts. What the Auditor General found, which was truly disturbing, was evidence that the Liberals' green slush fund had handed out $58 million to projects without a promise that the contribution agreement terms were met. Another $58 million went to 10 projects deemed ineligible as they, at times, could not prove an environmental benefit or were not developing green technology. Finally, there was $334 million in over 186 cases where SDTC board members held a conflict of interest.

This shocking misdirection of funds by Liberal-appointed board members has opened the eyes of Canadians to a corruption that demands Parliament's full attention. I am sure Canadians from my riding in Manitoba can think of many ways these hundreds of millions of dollars could have been used, whether it is improving internet and cellular connectivity in rural and remote regions or investing in law enforcement to crack down on crime. Instead, Liberal insiders got rich in the name of fighting climate change, all under the Prime Minister and his minister's watch.

I am proud to say that upon discovering this gross negligence and potentially criminal acts, the Conservatives stood firm and demanded that a proper investigation take place. The Conservatives voted to pass an order in the House of Commons to force the Liberals to hand over documents involved in their green slush fund. We demanded that these documents be handed over to the RCMP so a proper investigation could take place. However, surprise, surprise, the Liberals, who voted against the document production order, refused to release the documents to the House of Commons. This is undoubtedly a breach of parliamentary privilege, as the Speaker of the House of Commons has ruled. It is on this breach of privilege that my Conservative colleagues continue to rise today.

Not only were the Liberals caught giving funds to their Liberal friends, the minister responsible was also exposed for handing out tax dollars to projects without guaranteeing the projects would do good for the environment. This proves once again that the Liberals are nothing more than fake environmentalists. The Liberals failed to manage this program, leading to $390 million going into the bank accounts of Liberal insiders. Some SDTC recipients had no requirement to meet the environmental goals set out in the fund, and others were not even eligible for the funding.

This is not the first time we have seen the Liberals mislead Canadians about the environmental record. After nine years, the Liberals have proven to be fake environmentalists. In the environment committee, Conservatives have uncovered extreme negligence and a cover-up attempt by the Liberal government and its environment minister.

Evidence revealed at the Jasper wildfire investigation proves the Liberals do not care about the environment and will not accept responsibility for the damage their action caused. During the national tragedy this last July, a third of Jasper burned, resulting in nearly a billion dollars in damage and leaving over 2,000 people homeless. The environment committee launched an investigation into the Jasper wildfire. What it revealed was shocking.

For years, the Liberals were warned by experts that the deadfall caused by an infestation of mountain pine beetle meant the forest was a tinderbox waiting to ignite. Instead of taking action, the Liberals ignored experts and played politics. An email obtained by the Jasper wildfire investigation revealed that senior officials in the environment minister's department discussed cancelling prescribed burns months before the Jasper wildfires: “At what point do we make the organizational decision to cancel...prescribed burns in Western Canada?” They went on: “political perception may become more important than actual prescription windows.”

In fact, alarm bells rang for years under the Liberal government, as local forestry experts raised concerns with forest mismanagement. In a situation similar to the one we are discussing today, whistle-blowers came to the committee to speak the truth. The Jasper wildfire investigation heard from professional foresters who warned the Liberal government in 2017 that a devastating fire in Jasper was not a matter of if but when. The same professional forester revealed, “Nothing was done to address the landscape of the beetle-killed timber to prevent the megafire of July 22, 2024.”

While the Liberal's radical environment minister falsely claimed that his department did everything it could to prevent the fires, Conservatives exposed that Liberals ignored warnings about Jasper for years.

In fact, just like the green slush fund, the Liberals are failing to co-operate with another investigation, the Jasper wildfire investigation. On October 9, the Prime Minister appointed a minister responsible for Jasper's recovery. On that same day, Conservatives passed a motion calling for the minister to testify at the Jasper wildfire investigation. That was 27 days ago. Despite this, the minister has gone into hiding. He does not want to come to committee, where he will be held accountable. Canadians want to know what the minister is hiding from this committee, and why he will not show up to answer the people of Jasper, who have lost their homes because of the Liberal government's inaction. This is just another example of Liberal cover-ups and corruption.

While the minister responsible for Jasper will not testify, Conservatives have continued this investigation on behalf of Canadians. The Jasper wildfire investigation also revealed that a Parks Canada employee, who spoke out about the mismanagement in Jasper, was fired under the Liberal government. The Jasper wildfire investigation also heard from professional forester Ken Hodges, who asked whether the inaction by the Liberal government could be considered criminal. Why does the question of criminality keep coming up under the government?

The forestry expert submitted a written submission to the Jasper wildfire investigation that stated, “Was the inaction by Parks, knowing the issue and concerns, that created this catastrophe a criminal act?” Canadians should be concerned by this question, which shows once again how often the Liberal government's actions blur the lines between negligence and criminal behaviour. The Jasper wildfire investigation is ongoing, as Conservatives continue to uncover powerful evidence that shows Liberal negligence allowed Jasper to burn.

We have to hold the government accountable. This is precisely why the SDTC documents must be handed over to the RCMP, so Canadians can understand just how corrupt this deal was and whether it was criminal. Canadians are rightfully wondering about this.

To the millions of Canadians who are outraged to learn about this corrupt and potentially criminal use of Canadian tax dollars, I would direct them to yet another Liberal handout that has just been exposed. I refer to yet another flashy Liberal announcement earlier this September, this time for a project the Prime Minister claimed would bring high-speed Internet to Canadians.

The Prime Minister claimed his government had signed a $2-billion deal with Telesat, which would lead to “better and faster Internet service, even in rural, remote, and Northern communities.”

The Prime Minister went on to claim, “Telesat Lightspeed will expand Internet and 5G networks in communities across Canada, with affordable, high-speed broadband connectivity.”

The Prime Minister also said, “The network will accelerate the federal government’s work to connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2030.”

The Liberal government handed out tax dollars in another deal they claim will connect rural and remote Canadians, but guess what we just learned? There is zero commitment to connect any household with Internet with this $2 billion. There is zero, nothing, nada and none.

I asked the government, in a written question, “What are the complete details of financial penalties, if any, for not connecting the number of households agreed to in the funding agreement”? This was the minister's response, who, by the way, was the same minister overseeing the green slush fund: “The funding agreement does not include any commitment in regards to number of households to be connected to high-speed Internet”, then went on to say, “and so there are no associated financial penalties in this regard.”

Can members actually believe this? It is a $2-billion joke. Canadians are being forced to pay $2 billion for a connectivity program that may not connect a single household. How can we expect to connect Canadians to high-speed Internet when our contract does not even set a minimum number of households that must be connected? Was it laziness, neglect or corruption? It was probably all of the above. At the end of the day, this means Canadians will not receive the connectivity services they paid for, even though these services can mean the difference between life and death, especially in rural and remote regions.

The news comes after last year's findings in the Auditor General's damning report of the Liberal government's discovery that over a million households in rural Canada and over half of first nations still do not have access to high-speed Internet. It is becoming very clear that the Liberals measure success by how many tax dollars they spend instead of by the results they achieve. It seems that the Prime Minister has no problem sending money to his friends in big corporations; he does not expect to receive anything in return for Canadians. It is no wonder that, despite multi-billion dollar deals, Canadians are still not connected, especially in rural and remote areas.

This is why Conservatives are fighting for taxpayers. Allowing the Liberals' phony deals to go unchecked means more out-of-control spending and corruption, which only harms Canadians. Canadians know they cannot trust the Prime Minister to get results. The only people better off after nine years under the current Prime Minister are Liberal insiders.

Despite the Prime Minister's claim, in 2015, that his government would be “open and transparent”, Canadians only see corruption and cover-ups. The Prime Minister's corruption and scandals are becoming so damning that even members of his own caucus have lost faith in him. The Prime Minister is hoping that the green slush fund scandal disappears, but Canadians will not let him get away with this. All the outraged Canadians watching from home can see a clear but unmistakable pattern. While Conservatives continue to expose the truth by asking questions, there seems to be no end to the Liberal scandals. Whether we look at past scandals, such as SNC-Lavalin, the WE Charity or the arrive scam, or the ongoing investigations, such as those into the Jasper wildfire or the $8-billion net-zero accelerator fund, new scandals are coming to light every day. There are new scandals like their $2-billion Telesat deal, mentioned today.

All these blunders have a few things in common. They all have the fingerprints of the Prime Minister on them. They all involve Liberal negligence and the misuse of taxpayer dollars. Canadians are worse off for each and every scandal the Liberals have created. The Prime Minister has inflicted incredible damage on Canadians' well-being. Billions of Canadian tax dollars are being mismanaged by the Liberal government and, in some cases, going directly to the funds, with no real commitment to get results for Canadians, who foot the bill. Then, coincidentally, the same funds find their way into the pockets of Liberal insiders.

It has become clear that, instead of working to ensure Canadians have affordable food to eat, Liberals are focused on ensuring that Liberals can fill their bank accounts. Instead of building enough affordable homes for Canadians to live in, Liberals choose to build a bureaucracy of red tape. Canadians deserve a government that can benefit them, not just the Liberal elite. I hope the Liberals can end the cover-up and hand over the documents, so we can expose to Canadians just how deep the Liberals' corruption runs.

Dan Mazier

$660,756.00