Why is Parliament Being Held Up in SDTC Documents Case?

For almost a month now, the House of Commons has been at a standstill. It’s been paralyzed over a dispute about how and when the government should release documents related to its green technology fund. So what’s going on and how can this issue be resolved?

First, a primer on what’s happening. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) was an arms-length government body that was designed to hand out money to green technology firms. Last year, the government suspended the body from funding new programs, after the SDTC made some questionable decisions on how to spend the $1 billion allocated to the fund. Annette Verschuren, the former Chair of SDTC, had resigned in November of 2023 following the announcement of a probe from the Federal ethics commissioner after she revealed at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics that she had approved $200,000 in SDTC funds for her own firm, NRStor. Following an extensive audit of SDTC, Auditor General (AG) Karen Hogan released a report in June 2024 stating her department “found significant lapses” in SDTC’s “governance and stewardship of public funds.” The report also noted that the AGs office “found 90 cases that were connected to approval decisions, representing nearly $76 million in funding awarded to projects, where the foundation’s conflict-of-interest policies were not followed.”

Following the AGs report, MPs voted on a motion for the government to table documents related to SDTC with the law clerk within 30 sitting days, which would then be turned over to the RCMP for investigation. In this time, the government did not produce all documents ordered, and the Speaker ruled that a question of parliamentary privilege was in fact substantiated. Since that time, because matters of parliamentary privilege take precedence over all other issues before the House of Commons, and because MPs have been debating a motion regarding the production of documents since October 2^nd, Parliament has ground to a halt, putting a stop to votes and debates on practically anything outside of debates on SDTC documents.

While the government indicates that some documents have been released, their position is to refer the matter back to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC), which is in essence what the original motion tabled by the official opposition prescribes, and which is what all political parties are in agreement with. Arguments are being made that the government should provide the documents so that they can in turn be given to the RCMP. However, the RCMP has indicated that if criminal activity is detected in this case, they would need to obtain the documents in question through their normal procedure, which involves receiving a production order from a judge in order to be given access to said documents. The RCMP has also stated they currently have obtained a number of documents related to this matter and are conducting their own investigation. They just can’t confirm which documents, because it’s an ongoing investigation and having those details made public could compromise both the investigation and potential court proceedings if charges are laid in the future.

In the meantime, the work of Parliament continues to be held up on one hand because the request for the government to produce “certain documents” is not being acted on and on the other hand there is some question as to the liability of the release of unredacted documents. This isn’t an isolated incident as history shows that this has happened with previous governments. Some may even recall that the previous Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was found in contempt of parliament for failing to produce documents related to the torture Afghan detainees.

As for how this gridlock can be resolved, this would entail having either the government hand over the documents requested or having the official opposition end debate and have it go to committee, or having the government strike a deal by agreeing to certain demands from one of the other opposition parties in exchange for support in moving a closure motion.

At this point in time, it’s uncertain how much longer this stalemate between the government and the official opposition will last before the motion finally makes its way to the PROC Committee for study and the House can move on with its legislative agenda.