Government business on pause as Conservatives demand documents on defunct green tech foundation

The government has been unable to advance any of its business in the House of Commons for an entire week, and on Thursday, the Conservatives attributed this to what they called Liberal "corruption."

Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer argued that the governing party prefers to stall the House in debates rather than release documents related to what his party has labeled the "green slush fund," a program they claim misallocated government funds.

Last Thursday, House Speaker Greg Fergus ruled that the government "clearly did not fully comply" with an order from the House to provide documents concerning a now-disbanded foundation responsible for distributing hundreds of millions in federal funds for green technology projects. This has led to ongoing debate in the House, with Scheer stating the impasse will continue until the government hands over the documents to law enforcement.

"They're willing to have Parliament come to a standstill rather than give this information to the RCMP for a potential criminal investigation," Scheer said in an interview Thursday.

While the RCMP informed MPs this summer that they might not be able to use the documents in an investigation, Scheer argued that they should have access to the information before making that decision.

The Liberals, on the other hand, have countered that demanding the production of these documents to be turned over to the RCMP crosses the line between Parliament and the judiciary. They have also blamed the Conservatives for the current dysfunction in the House.

Liberal House Leader Karina Gould described the demand for the documents as an abuse of Parliament's power, claiming it infringes on Canadians' Charter rights.

"Let’s be clear, this is the Conservatives trying to disrupt Parliament," Gould said on Thursday. "Conservative MPs are pursuing their own political, personal agendas, with little regard for how it affects Canadians, and that should alarm all of us."

In response, Scheer emphasized that the Charter exists "to protect the people from the government. It is not there to shield the government from being held accountable by the people."

A similar dispute over government documents occurred over a decade ago when the Conservatives were in power during a minority government. In 2009, the House ordered the release of unredacted documents concerning Canada's involvement in the torture of Afghan detainees. Shortly after opposition parties passed a motion demanding those documents, then-prime minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament, temporarily halting the House committee's pursuit of the matter.

In this instance, the Liberal government shut down Sustainable Development Technology Canada after a scathing auditor general's report criticized the organization’s management earlier this year. The report revealed that one in six funded projects were ineligible, and it also identified 90 cases of conflict-of-interest policy violations.

Additionally, the ethics commissioner found that the foundation's former chair failed to recuse herself from decisions that benefited organizations with which she had connections.