Canada’s ethics commissioner said he has found no evidence Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault was involved in a business deal while in cabinet and considers the matter closed, according to a letter obtained by Global News.
Boissonnault referenced the letter during his testimony before the parliamentary ethics committee on Thursday.
“I’m happy to inform this committee that the ethics commissioner has written to me and told me that he has completed his assessment, including the examination of my phone records. He has once again, for the third time, coming to the conclusion there is no cause for concern,” Boissonnault said.
The appearance of the Edmonton Centre MP marks the second time he went before the ethics committee to answer questions about text messages his former business partner sent in 2022, citing communications with someone named “Randy.” His previous testimony was in June.
At the centre of the matter is a medical supply company called Global Health Imports, or GHI, and whether or not Boissonault was involved in its daily operations while in cabinet, which could have been a conflict of interest.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic while he was out of office, Boissonnault co-founded GHI with Edmonton-area hockey coach Stephen Anderson.
In June, Global News first reported on the texts Anderson sent to a client on Sept. 8, 2022, which raised questions about whether Boissonnault had continued to manage the company.
The story drew the attention of ethics commissioner Konrad on Finckenstein, whose office opened a case file into Boissonnault. Von Finckenstein then reviewed Boissonnault’s phone logs and text messages from the day the texts were sent, and said in a letter leaked to the press in June he found no evidence Boissonnault contravened ethics laws.
Boissonnault has always maintained he is not the “Randy” referenced in the text messages and that he has had no involvement in GHI’s operations while in cabinet.
However, after Anderson blamed autocorrect for typing “Randy” nine times in his July testimony before the ethics committee, MPs said that explanation left them with more questions than answers and called Boissonnault back to committee.
In July, more messages surfaced from Sept. 6, 2022 in which Anderson referenced further discussions with “Randy”, including one text that placed “Randy” in Vancouver at the same time Boissonnault was there for a cabinet retreat.
Boissonnault then accused Anderson of using his name without his consent, a statement he repeated on Thursday.
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With the disclosure of the new texts, von Finckenstein re-opened his case file and requested Boissonnault send him call logs and all text messages from Sept. 6 and Sept. 7.
In the new letter, dated Sept. 12, von Finckenstein states he has reviewed Boissonnault’s call logs from both days and found no evidence the minister contravened the Conflict of Interest Act by managing a private business while in office.
“On the basis of the information you have provided, and in the absence of any evidence giving me a reason to believe you may have been operating or managing GHI in contravention of subsection 15(1)(b) the Act, I consider this matter closed,” von Finckenstein wrote in the letter.
Boissonnault did not submit any texts for the commissioner to review, according to the letter, because the minister said he and Anderson did not communicate via text on Sept. 6 or Sept. 7.
Boissonnault also told the commissioner there were “no relevant communications using applications such as Signal or Whatsapp” on those dates and that he does not use those apps.
Conservative MPs had previously expressed concern that the commissioner relied on “the honour system” and that Boissonnault could not be fully disclosing his communications given that users of these apps can choose to have messages auto-delete.
However, when questioned by committee members about his communications with Anderson on Sept. 6, Boissonnault admitted he exchanged texts and had a brief call with his former business partner that day regarding a Purolator notification to settle GHI’s account.
“[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.
Boissonnault said he then forwarded the Purolator message to Anderson and Anderson then called him and the two had a “one minute conversation” regarding the matter.
The call between Anderson and Boissonnault was disclosed to the ethics commissioner and referenced in the Sept. 12 letter, but MPs learned of it for the first time this week.
Boissonnault’s office had previously said he could not have communicated with Anderson between Sept. 6 and Sept. 8 because he was at a cabinet retreat and all electronic devices had been confiscated.
Members of the committee drilled down on that statement, accusing Boissonnault of concealing evidence he did, in fact, speak with Anderson while at the cabinet retreat and had the means to.
“Now you tell the committee that you did talk to Anderson, you did text Anderson,” Tory MP Michael Cooper said. “You left this committee with the impression you had no communications with Anderson…that is a material omission.”
Tory ethics critic Michael Barrett and NDP ethics critic Matthew Green asked Boissonnault if he had received money from GHI or Anderson since his re-election in the fall of 2021.
The minister responded that he has earned no money from GHI since he won back his seat other than what he described as a “wrap up” payment from work he did in 2021 which was sent to him from GHI in early 2022.
“I did not receive any dividends from the company as a shareholder at any time (while in office),” Boissonnault said.
Boissonnault also told the committee he regretted going into business with Anderson and that he should have vetted him more thoroughly.
“I would not have gone into business with them if I had to do it over again,” he said.
Upon his re-election and appointment to cabinet in 2021, Boissonnault stepped away from the company, as is required by law, but retained his 50-per cent stake for almost three years.
In June 2024, he surrendered his shares, effectively cutting ties with Anderson and the company, after Global News published a series of stories about GHI’s legal troubles, Anderson’s questionable business practices, and his possible involvement in the company while in office.
GHI is accused of not paying its suppliers; it has lost half a dozen lawsuits by default because no defence was filed. The company also owes nearly $8 million in court-ordered debts to several Canadian businesses and a U.S. company and was hit with another lawsuit in July, which alleged Anderson and the company engaged in civil fraud. Anderson denies the allegations and the matter remains unproven before the courts.
Anderson, who has been at the helm of GHI since Boissonnault departed, faces a separate multi-million dollar lawsuit accusing him of civil fraud and wire fraud, which he denies. That case, too, is still before the courts.
And while Boissonnault is not named directly in any of the lawsuits and denies having anything to do with the business since 2021, the saga captured the attention of opposition MPs who have questioned the minister’s judgment for working with Anderson.