Longtime Ottawa observers marvel at the Trudeau governmentâs ability to carry on in the face of multiple scandals and flagrant breaches of public trust. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo Credit: Justin Trudeau/X.Ìę
There were reports released of parliamentarians that are knowingly collaborating with foreign governments, Liberal-friendly companies being routinely contracted hundreds of millions of dollars, and a steady stream of damning stories of ineptitude and foul play. Such is a single weekâs worth of Ottawa news in this Trudeau government era.Ìę
Compromised parliamentariansÂ
What was once an inquiry into foreign interference with Canadaâs election has become much more alarming this week with the bombshell security and intelligence report tabled in Parliament. The report concludes that some Canadian politicians are actively working with the foreign governments of China and India in what might be âillegal behaviourâ to advance their own interests. The report is also critical of the Trudeau governmentâs delays in investigating foreign interference, stating, âThis slow response to a known threat was a serious failure and one from which Canada may feel the consequences for years to come.â
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) report reads: âUnfortunately, the committee has also seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, âsemi-witting or wittingâ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.âÂ
NSICOP provides examples of parliamentarians âcommunicating frequently with foreign missions before or during a political campaign to obtain support from community groups or businesses which the diplomatic missions promise to quietly mobilize in a candidateâs favour.âÂ
Other parliamentarians are âaccepting knowingly, or through willful blindness, funds or benefits from foreign missions or their proxies which have been layered or otherwise disguised to conceal their source.â Others are: âproviding foreign diplomatic officials with privileged information on the work or opinions of fellow Parliamentarians, knowing that such information will be used by those officials to inappropriately pressure Parliamentarians to change their positions.â
NSICOPâs report dominated the debates throughout the week. Conservative MPs have called on the government to identify the individual parliamentarians. Pierre Poilievre states, âCanadians have the right to know who.â In response, a parade of Liberal ministers have resolutely stated they will not name names. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland simply stated, âLet me just say this, we take foreign interference really, really seriously.â
With these hollow reassurances, political pundits and even some in legacy media view the reportâs revelations of treasonous espionage activity by parliamentarians as alarming and disturbing. From CSIS reports and memos released in the past few weeks it is now understood the Prime Ministerâs Office (PMO) has known for years of the foreign interference in country affairs â and direct interference in the last two election campaigns. The NSICOP report places the PMOâs conduct in a wholly different light. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his staff know the parliamentarians in question, so one is left to consider why those MPs and Senators have been permitted to operate as foreign agents.Ìę
In a CBC News interview, Wesley Wark, a national security expert, commented that the NSICOP report provides a glimpse of âunderbelly storiesâ that are ânausea-inducing.â Terry Glavin, argumentatively the most knowledgeable newsman on the nefarious influence that the Chinese Communist Party exerts in Ottawa, states, âA clandestine intervention in Canadaâs elections is not exactly âinterferenceâ if itâs solicited, invited and welcomed, and itâs not precisely âforeignâ if the culprits are willing Canadian operatives and proxies in foreign-directed influence campaigns.â
A McKinsey boondoggle Â
Federal Auditor General Karen Hogan uncovered another disturbing government boondoggle involving McKinsey & Company, an international consulting firm that was once headed up by PM Trudeauâs friend Dominic Barton â that is until Barton was named Canadaâs ambassador to China.Ìę
Hoganâs office looked at all of the contracts awarded to McKinsey by federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations between 2011 and February 2023. Her report âfound frequent disregard for procurement policies and guidance and risk to value for money across the contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company both by departments and agencies and by Crown corporations.â
Almost three of four (71 per cent) of the 97 contracts were sole sourced, awarded without an open competition. Nine out of 10 departments and agencies, and eight out of 10 Crown corporations failed to properly follow their own procurement policies when managing McKinseyâs work.ÌęÂ
Of the $209 million in contracts that were awarded to McKinsey, the auditor general says that $200 million was spent, even though, with a majority of the contracts, the value for dollar could not be determined. Of 33 contracts sampled for compliance, Hoganâs office found 19 where the government could not demonstrate the contracts delivered value for money spent.
Hogan found that prior to 2015, McKinseyâs government contracts totaled less than $3 million annually. With the election of the Trudeau government that total increased significantly; in the year 2021-22, McKinsey made more than $55 million in federal contracts.Ìę
Routine Foul Play Â
Auditor General Karen Hogan released another report on Tuesday that looked into spending by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a $1 billion agency created to dole out subsidies for green ventures. This agency captured headlines last year when it was revealed that the chair and known Liberal-donor Annettee Verschuren gave her own company a $217,000 grant. Hogan found that the agency had paid out $856 million in subsidies and it violated conflict of interest guidelines 90 times providing tens of millions of dollars to companies with ties to its own directors and managers. There have also been 10 projects awarded $59 million which were not eligible for the environmental grants. (Note that when the Hogan report was made public, the government immediately cancelled the agency.)Â
Another politically embarrassing story broke this week at the MPs ethics committee, when employment minister Randy Boissonnault had difficulty explaining his involvement with his consultancy company of which he retains a 50 per cent stake. Boissonnault told MPs though he still receives payment â trailer fees â on contracts he managed prior to his election, since he became minister he has not been involved in the operations of Global Health Imports. The issue with the ministerâs story is the text communications that has surfaced in which Boissonnault was mentioned to be counselling former co-worker in September 2022, when he was in office, in cabinet. The minister denies any wrong-doing and went as far as to state the âRandyâ in the text messages was not referring to him.Ìę
And there was so much more this week, ironically ending with Trudeau standing on the beaches of Normandy waxing on about defending democracy against âdemagoguery, misinformation, disinformation, foreign interference.â Great irony indeed.ÌęÂ
Longtime Ottawa observers, those in media and government affairs, marvel at the Trudeau governmentâs ability to carry on in the face of multiple scandals and flagrant breaches of public trust. In any other democracy in the world one of these scandals would rock a government and perhaps drive it from office. Yet, with the steadfast support of the NDP, the Trudeau Liberals endure â unchecked to dump on Canadians yet another week of rot.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage .ÌęContact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
