Canada’s ethics commissioner will not launch an investigation into allegations that Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault broke conflict of interest rules by being involved in business deals while in cabinet, according to a letter obtained by Global News.
“I no longer have concerns that you may have contravened your obligations under the (Conflict of Interest Act) and will take no further action at this time,” Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein wrote in a letter to Boissonnault on June 25.
In the letter, von Finckenstein wrote that the probe did not turn up evidence to support allegations raised by Global News in June that Boissonnault may have been involved in managing or operating Global Heath Imports (GHI), a medical supply business he co-founded while serving as a cabinet minister.
Global reported on a text conversation that took place on Sept. 8, 2022 between GHI co-founder and COO Stephen Anderson and buyer Malvina Ghaoui, principal of The Ghaoui Group, a California-based company. In the text exchange, Anderson forwarded Ghaoui a message from someone named “Randy” asking for a “partner call” about a business deal between GHI and The Ghaoui Group.
“I do not have any information before me to support the allegation that you were involved in managing or operating GHI on September 8, 2022,” von Finckenstein wrote in the letter, first reported by CBC News.
The Conflict of Interest Act prohibits public officeholders from managing or operating a business while in office.
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While Boissonnault continues to own 50 per cent of GHI, which is allowed as long as they aren’t involved with company operations, Boissonnault said he resigned as director of the company when he was re-elected as Edmonton Centre MP in the fall of September 2021. His shares are held in a numbered company.
“Minister Boissonnault ceased active involvement with GHI during the 2021 campaign, and formally resigned from his role with GHI after being elected in 2021,” wrote Alice Hansen, Boissonnault’s director of communications, in a prior statement.
Boissonnault provided documentation of his resignation as director of GHI to the ethics commissioner.
During a parliamentary ethics committee hearing in June in which Boissonnault and von Finckenstein both testified, von Finckenstein said he would look into whether Boissonnault had communicated with Anderson on Sept. 8, 2022, the day the text exchange occurred.
Boissonnault has repeatedly denied he is the “Randy” mentioned in the text exchange. The Ghaoui Group is now suing Anderson and two other employees of GHI over allegations of fraud.
Anderson and his two employees, Felix Papineau and Shawna Parker, have filed statements of defence denying Ghaoui Group’s allegations.
Boissonnault is not named in the lawsuit and the allegations remain unproven and untested in court.
The commissioner wrote that Boissonnault provided call logs for the date of the text exchange, along with screenshots of messages he exchanged on various platforms showing the identity of the receivers of those messages.
Boissonnault told the ethics commissioner he had no contact with Anderson or anyone else at GHI on the date in question, and has had “no communications whatsoever with The Ghaoui Group,” according to the letter.
“The information provided supports your statement,” the letter states.
In recent weeks, Boissonnault has faced a torrent of questions from Opposition MPs in the House of Commons about whether he was the “Randy” referenced in text messages. The Edmonton Centre MP repeatedly denied that he is the “Randy” mentioned by Anderson in the messages.
On June 12, the parliamentary ethics committee unanimously passed a motion to have Anderson and Kirsten Poon, a lobbyist with ties to Boissonnault, to testify before the committee.
Anderson previously told Global News that he was referring to another GHI employee named Randy, but would not provide a surname. He said there was a “Randy” who held the title of head of logistics.
Global News spoke with several of GHI’s former suppliers and owners of businesses adjacent to GHI’s warehouse in Edmonton and was unable to find any evidence of another employee named Randy.
A representative of The Ghaoui Group previously confirmed no one from the company had directly spoken to Boissonnault, however Ghaoui said she had understood Anderson was referring to Boissonnault in the texts because Anderson had told her he was a partner at GHI.
“It was clear that Stephen was referencing his previously mentioned partner, Randy Boissonnault. All of the ‘players’ mentioned to me were portrayed to be important for the purposes of closing my deal,” Ghaoui said in a statement.
Anderson has declined to answer follow-up questions from Global News regarding the identity of the other Randy. He and Poon are expected to appear before the ethics committee the week of July 15, but the date of the hearing has yet to be scheduled.