Calls for federal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner to be found in contempt of Parliament are mounting.
This week, the federal NDP and Bloc Québécois backed a Conservative effort to find Stephen Anderson in contempt because he did not produce documents and information requested by the ethics committee.
Earlier this summer, Anderson was ordered to submit his call logs and texts, as well as the identity of the person he referred to as “Randy” in text messages from September 2022.
Opposition parties want the House of Commons to use its power to compel Anderson to produce outstanding information with respect to allegations that Boissonnault broke ethics rules by being involved with a business deal while in office.
Employment Minister Boissonnault denies the allegations and has said he is not the “Randy” referenced in text messages. Canada’s ethics commissioner has also said he considers the matter closed after reviewing the Boissonnault’s call logs.
However, opposition MPs have criticized the scope of the commissioner’s powers and remain steadfast in seeking information from Anderson.
Tory ethics critic Michael Barrett raised a “question of privilege” in the House of Commons last week, arguing Anderson’s refusal to hand over documents violated the committee’s parliamentary privilege — that is, the right of the committee to fulfil their functions unimpeded.
It was taken under advice by the Speaker, effectively triggering the parliamentary process.
NDP ethics critic Matthew Green rose on a point of order on Monday in support of Barrett’s question of privilege.
“This House must uphold the authority to protect our parliamentary privilege in order to ensure accountability and transparency in all matters of government oversight before its standing committees,” Green said.
Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure, who sits on the ethics committee, told Global News on Wednesday his party also supports the Conservatives’ move.
“If we accept (Anderson’s) non-answers, where will the committee go? It is the whole legitimacy of this committee which is at stake here,” Villemure said.
Boissonnault has been under scrutiny from the ethics committee and Canada’s conflict of interest and ethics commissioner for months over texts Anderson sent in September 2022 that cited repeated discussions about a multi-million-dollar business deal with someone named “Randy.”
Boissonnault, who is the MP for Edmonton Centre, was tourism minister and associate finance minister at the time. Ethics laws prohibit cabinet ministers from operating or managing private businesses.
Boissonnault co-founded a medical supply company called Global Health Imports (GHI) with Anderson in 2020. They ran the business together until the fall of 2021, when Boissonnault was re-elected and appointed to cabinet.
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Boissonnault has maintained he has had nothing to do with GHI since his re-election.
As a first step in a lengthy parliamentary process, the Speaker of the House of Commons has taken the matter under advisement and must now produce a decision on whether Anderson appears to be in contempt. If the Speaker decides there is an appearance of contempt, a motion will be put forward, debated and then voted on by all MPs.
A person can be found in contempt of Parliament if they have interfered with House committees’ abilities to perform their functions, which, in this case, was the ethics committee’s study into whether Boissonnault violated the Conflict of Interest Act.
Green, MP for Hamilton Centre, told Global News in an interview he’s concerned about a growing trend of witnesses refusing to co-operate with Parliament.
He compared the situation with Anderson to that of ArriveCan contractor Kristian Firth, who was found in contempt of Parliament in April after refusing to answer certain committee questions about his company’s $25-million contract with the federal government.
“If we have people — citizens, MPs, ministers, senators — decide that they just simply don’t want to co-operate with the parliamentary process then it really undermines the democratic ability to have full discussions,” Green said.
In a rare summer hearing, MPs on the ethics committee repeatedly asked Anderson who the “Randy” was in the text messages. Anderson refused to say, but repeatedly stated the “Randy” in the messages was not Boissonnault. He blamed autocorrect for typing “Randy” nine times in messages to a client.
Refusing to answer questions during a witness testimony and failing to comply with committee orders to produce documents are grounds for someone to be in contempt.
Anderson did both, a committee report tabled in the House last week found.
Villemure, MP for Trois-Rivières, said he thinks this matter would have been settled in the summer had Anderson been forthcoming with information.
“We still have to answer: Who is Randy?” he said.
Anderson did not provide comment by deadline.
Boissonnault’s office said the minister “encourages Mr. Anderson to comply with the motions passed by the committee.”
New communications come to light
This comes after Boissonnault’s latest testimony before the ethics committee revealed he had briefly been in contact with Anderson in the fall of 2022, which raised fresh questions from opposition MPs.
Boissonnault admitted to texting and speaking with Anderson over the phone on Sept. 6, 2022, the same day Anderson texted a client that he was communicating with someone named “Randy” about a business deal.
Boissonnault told MPs last Thursday he contacted Anderson after receiving a message from Purolator inquiring about an issue with an account held by GHI.
“(Purolator) was using records they had on file in an attempt to reach somebody from the company, despite the fact that I had not been involved in the company for more than a year,” Boissonnault said in his Sept. 19 testimony.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather read out the text correspondence from that day, which Boissonnault had provided to committee members.
Boissonnault messaged Anderson around 11:30 a.m. MST, “Hello. Where in the world are you?,” which Boissonnault said prompted Anderson to call him.
“We discussed this account entirely. That was it. I forwarded the messages from Purolator to Mr. Anderson and the conversation ended,” he said.
After the brief phone call, Boissonnault sent Anderson more messages, according to Housefather, that read:
“Great to hear your voice,” he texted. “Saturday drink?”
Boissonnault said the two did not end up meeting.
Green said this admission underscores the committee’s responsibility “to continue to seek the truth” despite a recent decision from conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein stating he found no evidence Boissonnault contravened ethics laws.
“The ethics commissioner hasn’t necessarily said ‘case closed’ in the way Mr. Boissonnault would like people to think. What the ethics commissioner said is based on the information that the minister provided him, and absent of other information, he didn’t have enough to move forward with (an investigation),” Green said.
Alice Hansen, Boissonnault’s director of communications, said Green is “speculating for political gain.”
In recent months, von Finckenstein has requested Boissonnault send him his phone logs and text communications for Sept. 6 to Sept. 8, 2022, the dates Anderson said he was consulting “Randy.”
According to a letter obtained by Global News, Boissonnault told the ethics commissioner there were no texts between him and Anderson on Sept. 6 or Sept. 7, so he did not submit any. He did inform von Finckenstein about the brief phone call.
When asked whether the minister had made von Finckenstein aware of the texts from Sept. 6, Hansen replied with a statement that did not directly answer the question.
“Minister Boissonnault has shared his text messages with the Commissioner’s office and the Commissioner was aware of his conversation with Mr. Anderson,” Hansen wrote.
She did not respond to followup questions about what texts she was referring to in the statement.
Both Green and Villemure said the ethics commissioner is limited in his ability to investigate appearances of conflicts of interest because of the current laws in place, which they say are in need of review.
“We need to seriously strengthen the independent investigative nature of the ethics commissioner to have powers to actually demand documents, not just through voluntary disclosure,” Green said.
In the absence of that, Green said the House of Commons must use its power to demand Anderson produce the outstanding documents so opposition parties can hold the Liberal government accountable.
“It is fair to say it is far from over.”