Transport Committee on May 21st, 2024

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

On what date did Ms. Méthot resign?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

She resigned on April 16.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

It is pretty plain that what we see is corruption, or it would be perceived to be corruption. People appointed by the government who are serving on boards are rewarded after it's revealed that there have been these kinds of insider dealings. Multiple other people on the board who were GIC appointments were under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner and were then appointed to the Infrastructure Bank, a larger pool of money with which they could further their own private interests and advantage themselves.

This individual offered their resignation. Was that following an announcement by you of an investigation into their dealings while serving on the Infrastructure Bank?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

No, I've made no such announcement of that kind of investigation.

I would just urge caution. I don't know this person. I do know that there were some reasons to look into the work at SDTC. While inquiries are ongoing, to make allegations of corruption just in a general way, I think, sets a dangerous precedent.

I would urge caution on all members in advance of any explicit findings because of the impact that those kinds of statements can have on a person permanently throughout the course of their life.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Sure. I appreciate your caution, Minister, but Ms. Méthot's personal interests and the decisions that she took while serving on the SDTC board are a matter of public record. She then went on to receive what is a prestigious—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Barrett, just one second, please. I'll stop your time. I have a point of order from Mr. Bittle.

Go ahead, Mr. Bittle.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

I'm just curious about who Mr. Barrett is subbing in for. All of the regular members of the Conservative Party are here. If they're here, they're participating.

I was just wondering who Mr. Barrett is subbing in for.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

On that point of order, Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I'm just going to respond to Mr. Bittle.

He can be present even if other members are here.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

He can be present. Can he be participating?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

He can't be voting.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Okay.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

I'm an associate member of the committee, Mr. Chair, and I'm able to participate as a member of the official opposition. If my colleagues are generous in sharing their opportunity to question the minister with me, I'm able to do that, provided I abide by the rules of the committee and don't cast a vote when regular members or permanent members of the committee are present.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

That is correct.

I'll turn the floor back over to you and I'll start your time. You have two and a half minutes left, sir.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I'll go to Ms. Koutrakis.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

I'm questioning the relevance of this line of questioning, because we are here on main estimates. I'd like to find out what the relevance is.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Ms. Koutrakis.

I'll ask all members to try to find a way to segue or explain the line of questioning as it relates to the main estimates.

With that, I'll turn the floor back over to you, Mr. Barrett.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

It's beyond rich. One member of the government doesn't want me to even be able to ask questions, although it's of course established that I'm able to do so. Another member is saying that my questions aren't relevant when we're asking the minister responsible for infrastructure about appointments to the infrastructure board.

It screams cover-up when we're talking about questions of corruption that have been well reported in the media and are rightly concerning for Canadians who have a hard time paying their bills, and yet we have insiders who are lining their pockets while they have plum government appointments and are making decisions that personally benefit themselves.

Minister, would you be able to table for the committee, following your appearance, the resignation letter or official notice from the Infrastructure Bank showing that the resignation did in fact take place on the date that you indicated?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I don't have a copy. I'd be happy to undertake to request that the Canada Infrastructure Bank provide that to me.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

That's excellent. The concern and the reason that I raise this, of course, is that Dr. Lewis very ably put questions to you about the completion of projects by the Infrastructure Bank, and so we have questions about the organization's efficacy and having confidence in it.

With respect to any future appointments, we'd of course expect that those appointments are given to people who have not been implicated in questions of self-dealing. However, will you commit today to undertake a review of decisions that Ms. Méthot participated in while serving on the Infrastructure Bank so as to be able to assure Canadians that no further insider dealing was undertaken by her?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I'm happy to look into it. Some of the elements might be properly administered by the bank in the first instance, as an entity that operates independent of government; but I have no reservations about looking into it. I think we all owe it to our constituents to make sure that there's not inappropriate use of taxpayers' money, even when it's run by an arm's-length organization and the money's paid back.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Barrett, and thank you, Minister.

Finally for today, we have Ms. Koutrakis. The floor is yours. You have five minutes, please.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister, for being here with us today.

I just want to add to the question of my honourable colleague, Mr. Bachrach. We ran out of time; he shared his time with another colleague here.

I want to go back to the Canada housing infrastructure fund and the billion-dollar investment. Could you share with us how this fund will accelerate the construction of water, waste-water and solid waste infrastructures, which are critical to housing development? I'm specifically looking at how the fund will do that.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Sure. There are two ways.

In some communities, the lack of infrastructure is a bottleneck to housing growth. They literally don't have the service capacity to add new homes in particular parts of the community, and they don't have the financial means to pay for those services to be established.

The first and most direct way is we're going to help pay for the infrastructure so they actually have the water pipe that will ensure that water comes out when you turn the tap. That's the most direct way. However, it's also going to have a very positive and indirect benefit: It will inspire more home building in a given community because we're restricting eligibility to communities that adopt certain kinds of changes that make it easier and faster to build homes, including freezing development cost charges; including adopting more as-of-right zoning, so you don't get tied up in council for a year to get an approval for a basic project; including adopting designs from the national home design catalogue that will make them easier to get through the process; including adopting changes to the building code that will help develop consistency in home production through designs that are more affordable for the person to live in at the end of the day.

There are a number of different ways, both direct and indirect, but we're putting money on the table to incentivize changes to the rules, and that money can be used to build the infrastructure that makes it possible to build houses.