The federal contract Elections Canada awarded to cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault’s former medical supply company was not posted publicly for seven months due to an “internal error,” the government agency told Global News.
Global Health Imports (GHI) won a $28,000 contract in January to supply Elections Canada with disposable gloves. At the time the contract was inked, Boissonnault, who is Canada’s employment minister, held a 50 per cent stake in the company.
Conflict of interest laws forbid ministers from having an interest in a private corporation that obtains federal contracts through which the company receives a benefit.
A cross-partisan group of parliamentarians have grilled the Edmonton Centre MP since June over a separate allegation he was involved in GHI’s business dealings while in office, in potential violation of ethics laws.
Both Boissonnault and his GHI co-founder, Stephen Anderson, testified before the parliamentary ethics committee about texts Anderson sent in 2022 citing repeated communications regarding a business deal with someone identified only as “Randy.”
Both deny Boissonnault is the “Randy” in the messages.
The Elections Canada contract, which has been active but unused, was not part of those discussions because it came to light recently. Elections Canada said the contract information was uploaded to the Open Government database on Aug. 9 — 217 days after the contract was awarded.
Boissonnault has said he had no knowledge of the contract since he resigned as a director of GHI after this re-election in the fall of 2021, in accordance with ethics rules, and has not been involved with the company since.
Tory ethics critic Michael Barrett called for the ethics commissioner to launch an investigation into Boissonnault.
“There should be a full investigation into whether Minister Boissonnault benefited from his business that continues to be embroiled in scandals and the Minister should be held accountable,” Barrett said.
The information would have been useful during both Boissonnault and Anderson’s hearings, NDP ethics critic Matthew Green said, “so that the committee could put clear questions as to why GHI bid on this contract and whether all parties involved understood their obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act.”
“By now, all government departments and agencies should clearly understand the requirements and the importance of reporting procurement contracts in a fulsome and timely manner,” Green said.
Information about federal contracts over $10,000 must be published quarterly in accordance with Access to Information laws. The posting should occur within 30 days after the end of the first three fiscal quarters and within 60 days after the end of the fourth quarter, depending on when the contract was entered into.
The Elections Canada contract is dated Jan. 5, in the government’s fourth fiscal quarter. The disclosure should have been posted publicly by the end of May to follow Canada’s access laws.
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Elections Canada said the publication was delayed due to an “internal error.”
“The contract was not posted within the usual timeline due to an internal error. It was posted in the subsequent quarterly release,” Elections Canada’s media relations staff said in an email.
The next fiscal quarter concluded at the end of June, therefore the subsequent release should have been sometime in July.
While NDP MP Green said he will give Elections Canada the benefit of the doubt, “the error has not only impacted the work of our committee but could be used by disingenuous people to imply some sort of coverup or impugn the reputation of their organization.”
Boissonnault called to testify next week over ‘Randy’ texts
Boissonnault co-founded GHI with Anderson, an Edmonton-area hockey coach, in early 2020 while he was out of office. They launched the startup just as the COVID-19-induced boom for personal protective equipment (PPE) began, selling gloves, masks and gowns to various buyers.
Earlier this year, Global News published a series of stories detailing GHI’s legal woes and questionable business practices, including approximately $ 8 million in court-ordered debts, allegations the company did not pay its bills, and accusations of civil fraud against the company and Anderson.
Boissonnault is not named in any of the lawsuits and Anderson denies the fraud allegations, which remain unproven.
While Boissonnault stepped away from the company in fall of 2021, he remained a major shareholder in GHI until late June. Ministers are allowed to hold shares in private companies, but they must not manage or operate the business.
Boissonnault has been called to testify before the ethics committee again next week over the “Randy” texts. The exact date of the hearing has not been set yet.
Last month, new texts surfaced that placed “Randy” in Vancouver at the same time Boissonnault was there for a cabinet retreat.
That prompted ethics commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein to reopen his case file on Boissonnault and request more information from the minister. This came after von Finckenstein’s June decision not to formally investigate Boissonnault.
In his testimony before the ethics committee in July, Anderson said Boissonnault was not who he was referring to and blamed autocorrect for typing “Randy” nine times in messages across two days.
Members of the ethics committee of all political stripes said they did not believe Anderson’s explanation and passed a motion to bring Boissonnault back to answer more questions.
Committee members will now have the chance to ask him about the Elections Canada contract.
It is unclear what action, if any, the ethics commissioner has taken since Global News informed his office of the contract last month. A spokesperson for the office declined to comment on the matter due to confidentiality.
Commissioner von Finckenstein could grant Boissonnault an exemption to Conflict of Interest rules if he decides that the contract or interest is “unlikely to affect the exercise of the official powers, duties and functions” of the minister.
Boissonnault’s director of communications, Alice Hansen, said in a statement last month that the exemption should apply because Boissonnault “has no oversight of or control over” Elections Canada or its contracts.
“Minister Boissonnault was not involved with this contract and had no knowledge that GHI had put in a bid for such a contract. The Minister stepped down from any operational role with GHI after his election in 2021. He has not been involved with any contracts obtained by GHI since then,” Hansen said.
Elections Canada said no one involved in the procurement process related to the January contract was aware that Boissonnault owned a stake in GHI at the time.
“We are following the situation and would wait for a decision of the ethics commissioner on this matter before determining if and how it impacts the contract,” Elections Canada said.
No oversight of proactive disclosures
Access laws govern the public’s right to information. Part II of the Access to Information Act lays out the rules for what information the government is required to disclose without an access request being made and the process for how it is released.
Laws around proactive disclosures of information, such as significant federal contracts or MP travel expenses, are designed to ensure government transparency and accountability over how taxpayer dollars are used.
Last year, Canada’s information commissioner Caroline Maynard highlighted several issues with the current legislation in an ethics committee hearing, including the lack of oversight of proactive disclosures.
“Right now, there is nobody looking at whether people are meeting their obligations. I don’t have the authority. I definitely do not have the resources to do it now,” she told committee members in March 2023.
Though Maynard has no jurisdiction over this part of the act, she has recommended that an independent review mechanism be created to ensure individuals and government institutions are complying with the publication requirements.
The Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees the Open Government portal where contracts are posted, said heads of government institutions are responsible for the proactive publication of their contracts.
Contract part of emergency preparedness
While the contract is active, Elections Canada said it has not ordered gloves from GHI to date and therefore has not made any payments to the company.
When asked why it has not made any orders eight months into the year-long contract, Elections Canada said the contract is part of the agency’s effort to be better prepared for emergencies.
“That includes putting in place contracts for certain types of goods we may need to purchase to deal with an emergency. Gloves that could be provided to poll workers are among those types of goods,” Elections Canada said.
GHI does not currently hold a medical device establishment licence (MDEL) from Health Canada, which is needed to sell medical-grade disposable gloves.
Elections Canada said the tender did not specifically seek suppliers with an MDEL or medical-grade gloves.
Krista.hessey@globalnews.ca
