Ethics commissioner flags conflict at Sustainable Development Technology Canada

The ethics commissioner says the former chair of a foundation responsible for doling out federal funds for sustainable technology projects failed to recuse herself from decisions that benefited organizations she had ties to.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) was abolished last month in response to an auditor general's report that cited lapses in the green fund's handling of public money.

The organization has received $2.1 billion in federal funding since its inception in 2001. The most recent agreement with the federal government, signed in 2021, outlined $722.5 million in funding through to 2028.

Annette Verschuren became chair of the board for Sustainable Development Technology Canada in 2019, but also continued to serve on the boards of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment and the MaRS Discovery District.

During the COVID-19 pandemic she voted to give emergency relief payments to all companies that had previously been approved for funding —  including her own company, NRStor —  ethics commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein revealed in a report Wednesday.

Von Finckenstein determined Verschuren "participated in those decisions knowing that NRStor would benefit from the funding. They furthered her private interests, and she should have recused herself."

She also continued to serve on the boards of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment and the MaRS Discovery District.

She failed to recuse herself from decisions that benefited the two organizations with which she was affiliated, though she did often abstain from voting, the ethics commissioner said.

Because of her role on the various boards, Verschuren "improperly furthered the interests of the beneficiaries of SDTC funding to companies associated with those accelerators," the report said.

Verschuren's practice of abstaining from the vote instead of recusing herself "regrettably deviated" from the organization's conflict of interest policy and "fell short" of the requirements in the Conflict of Interest Act, it said.

Verschuren resigned from her position as chair in November 2023.

Conservative critic takes aim at Liberals

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett first brought the allegations to the ethics commissioner and took aim at the Liberal government over the findings.

He said the report determined the then-industry minister Navdeep Bains "was warned of Verschuren's glaring conflict of interest, but proceeded to appoint her and leave her in the position until she was forced to resign."

He said she "only did this after being exposed for wasting an enormous amount of Canadian taxpayers' dollars on projects that benefited her financially."

Barrett called for the Liberals to recoup "all taxpayer money that was funnelled inappropriately to Liberal insiders."

Earlier this year, the auditor general looked at 58 SDTC projects. That report found 10 were ineligible but received a total of $59 million in funding anyway.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said at the time the organization's activities would be moved to the National Research Council, where they would be subject to the Treasury Board's rules on the management of public funds.

A statement from the green fund in response to the ethics commissioner's report said it has strengthened governance of its board to make sure conflict of interest rules are followed.

"A new board of directors has been appointed, with a mandate to transfer SDTC programming to the National Research Council," the statement said.

The House of Commons industry committee has also been investigating the organization. The committee held seven meetings, most recently hearing from Bains in June.