- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
- Liberal
- Saint-Maurice—Champlain
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 61%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $108,626.98
- Government Page
- Jun/5/24 3:08:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are so allergic to good news that they go to old news. The big news today is 4.75. That is the number that all Canadians will remember, because we have good economic news, but I am happy to answer the same question again.
What is a responsible government? It is about launching an inquiry. That is what we did, and on the basis of the findings we suspended funding to the organization, and the CEO and the chair resigned. Now, we are proposing a new governance model with the National Research Council, because we want to restore funding to small and medium-sized businesses in this country.
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- Jun/5/24 3:05:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives, that is for sure. We have been very clear. The moment the allegations were made, we launched investigations, one by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton and one by the law firm McCarthy Tétrault.
Members know that this is an organization created by Parliament 20 years ago that operates at arm's length from the government. In light of the allegations, we suspended the funding, and the chair of the board and the CEO both resigned.
Now we have a new governance model. The activities will be transferred to the National Research Council. We are committed to the highest standards of governance and that is exactly—
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- Jun/4/24 2:58:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone in the House can recognize the member for Lévis—Lotbinière's theatrical talents, but the reality is simple. I have said it before, and I will say it again so that everyone on that side of the House and the Canadians watching us can hear it: The most important thing is integrity.
That is why, when we received allegations, we launched an investigation. We made sure to suspend the funding until we received the findings. The CEO of the organization has stepped down. The chair of the board of directors has stepped down.
We are proposing a new governance model to restore confidence and ensure that we can support SMEs in Canada's green technology sector.
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- Jun/4/24 2:56:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it seems that there were a lot of people on their side sleeping at the switch. What I have said is very clear. We received allegations and we investigated. We investigated. We made sure that we would get to the bottom of this. We suspended the funding to the organization. The chair of the board and the CO resigned. We made sure that there would be a management plan in place.
We want to restore confidence. We expect everyone to adhere to the highest governance. That is why we are proposing a new model of governance that would make sure that public funds are disbursed with the level of governance that all Canadians expect.
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- Jun/4/24 2:35:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we can see, again, where the Conservatives are going. The Auditor General's report was very clear. Parliament decided 20 years ago to have an arm's-length organization to manage that. We investigated the allegations. Now we are proposing a new governance model, which will be under the rules of the federal public service, so that we can have more rules around HR and more rules around funding.
We are going to restore confidence. We are going to make sure that we have a model of delivery that meets the highest standard. We are going to fight for the clean tech in this sector.
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- Feb/29/24 2:55:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people watching at home must be wondering where the Conservatives were on January 16. I am sure people are wondering.
On January 16, we announced that, as a government, we would stop funding research—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Nov/24/23 12:00:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, from the moment we heard an allegation, I had the minister order an investigation to make sure we could get to the bottom of this. Not only that, but I also suspended the fund to make sure there would be good governance before we restore the funding of the organization.
The CEO of the organization has resigned. I have accepted the resignation of the chair of the board. We have appointed an independent law firm so whistle-blowers can go to it and tell their story to make sure we get to the bottom this, restore governance and restore funding to Canadian companies.
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- Nov/9/23 2:22:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I would like to provide some facts about his story. As soon as we heard about the allegations regarding the management of funds at that agency, I called for an external investigation to get to the bottom of the matter. Based on the results that we obtained, I asked for corrective action to be taken.
We expect the highest level of governance from all agencies that receive funding from taxpayers. We will continue to get to the bottom of this situation.
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- Oct/5/23 3:07:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent for his question. It is important to remind Canadians who are watching us today of the facts. As soon as the allegations were made, we commissioned an independent expert report. On that basis, we took action and demanded that a plan be put in place to ensure that we have the highest level of governance at that foundation. When it comes to public funds, we expect the highest level of governance at every institution.
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- May/2/23 3:03:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Châteauguay—Lacolle for her important question and her excellent work as a colleague.
In fact, I was at Concordia University on Friday to announce an historic investment of $1.4 billion in the sciences. Our students, our researchers and our scientists play a vital role. I think that all of my colleagues agree. This funding will support wide-scale research initiatives across the country, from Vancouver to Calgary, to Montreal and obviously Halifax. We will—
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