Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s former medical supply company won a federal contract while he was in office and co-owned the business.
Elections Canada awarded Global Health Imports (GHI) a contract in January to supply the agency with disposable gloves. At the time, Boissonnault owned a 50 per cent stake in the company.
Generally, ministers are allowed to own shares in a private company while serving in cabinet as long as that company does not obtain federal contracts.
Elections Canada is a non-partisan government agency that administers general elections and byelections, among other duties.
The contract, now posted on the federal government’s public database, is valued at $28,300. It began on Jan. 5 and runs until the end of the year.
Elections Canada confirmed the contract is active, but the agency said it has yet to use it because it has not needed to order disposable gloves.
To date, no payments have been made to GHI, Elections Canada said.
Tory ethics critic Michael Barrett said he intends to refer this information to Canada’s ethics commissioner requesting he look into whether Boissonnault broke conflict of interest laws.
“We need that independent investigation,” he said.
“Randy Boissonnault should not be serving in the federal cabinet if he is found guilty of breaking Canada’s ethics laws.”
Edmonton Centre MP Boissonnault is already under scrutiny from the ethics commissioner over allegations he communicated with his former business partner, Stephen Anderson, about a multi-million-dollar business deal while in office.
Ethics laws also prohibit ministers from operating or managing private companies while serving in cabinet.
Boissonnault, who is the sole minister for Alberta, said he resigned as a director of GHI after he was appointed to cabinet in 2021, in accordance with ethics rules, and has had no involvement with the company since.
He did, however, continue to own a significant stake in GHI, which was held in a numbered company, until late June 2024.
Boissonnault’s office said he surrendered his shares in response to Global News’ reporting and the “politicization of his shareholder status.”
“The minister received no income as part of relinquishing his stake in the company,” Boissonnault’s director of communication Alice Hansen told Global News in July.
Section 13(2) of Canada’s Conflict of Interest Act states no minister “shall have an interest in a partnership or private corporation” that has a contract with a federal department or agency “under which the partnership or corporation receives a benefit.”
This rule is in place to prevent ministers, and other public office holders, from benefiting from federal contacts “on the side” while serving Canadians, explained Ian Stedman, an associate professor in public law and governance at York University.
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Stedman said Boissonnault appears to be in violation of the act, however, it is up to the interpretation of Canada’s ethics commissioner.
“I would expect that we would see some sort of acknowledgment, if not a full-blown report, applying Section 13(2) to the contract and minister Boissonnault’s former ownership interest in GHI.”
The findings, he said, “breeds greater distrust and cynicism (in our parliamentarians).”
Stedman argues that even though Elections Canada has not yet purchased gloves from GHI, the law does not appear to require the “benefit” to have accrued before the rule is engaged or breached.
“If they have signed the contract, then I would argue that this section applies.”
The act contains an exemption to this rule if the commissioner decides the contract or interest is “unlikely to affect the exercise of the official powers, duties and functions” of the minister.
Melanie Rushworth, director of communications for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, said she cannot comment on the matter due to confidentiality, but thanked Global News for bringing it to the office’s attention.
In a statement, Boissonnault’s office said he was not involved with the Elections Canada contract and had no knowledge that GHI bid on it.
“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.
She added that the minister has no control over or insight into Elections Canada contracts.
“The awarding of a contract the minister had no involvement in, to a company he had no operational role in, by an agency he has no authority over, would in no way affect the exercise of his official powers, duties and functions as a minister of the Crown and the exemption under the Act would apply here.”
That is for the ethics commissioner to decide, Stedman said.
“Even though Boissonnault says he didn’t know about it, he had an obligation to know about it.”
Anderson, Boissonnault’s former business partner, did not respond to Global News’ questions about the contract.
Boissonnault launched GHI with Anderson, a former hockey coach, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, five months after losing his seat in the 2019 general election.
He ran GHI alongside Anderson until he won back his seat in the 2021 election.
The company sells personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves and gowns to government offices, senior care facilities and other buyers.
Over the course of four months, Global News investigations have uncovered a slew of lawsuits against GHI and Anderson, including two allegations of civil fraud, nearly $8 million in court-ordered debt, and text messages that have raised questions about whether Boissonnault was involved with a business deal in 2022, while he served as minister of tourism.
None of the lawsuits name Boissonnault, who denies having anything to do with the company since he stepped down.
Anderson repeatedly texted a client in September 2022 saying he was consulting someone named “Randy” on a $17-million sale of medical gloves. In one message, sent on Sept. 6, 2022, Anderson said “Randy” was in Vancouver. Boissonnault was there for a cabinet retreat on the same day.
Boissonnault denies he is the “Randy” in the texts and has accused Anderson of using his name without his knowledge or consent.
After Global News first reported on texts in June, Boissonnault faced a cross-partisan flurry of calls in the House of Commons to disclose the identity of “the other Randy” at GHI.
Ethics commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein subsequently reviewed Boissonnault’s call logs and text communications from Sept. 8, 2022, the day Anderson sent the texts, and decided against launching a formal investigation.
The parliamentary ethics committee called Anderson as a witness in July and asked him to disclose the identity of the “other Randy.” Anderson refused to do so and blamed autocorrect for typing “Randy” nine times. He said Boissonnault has not been involved in GHI’s business since he was re-elected.
Several MPs took issue with his “autocorrect” explanation and the committee passed a motion to call Boissonnault to testify in September.
Global News also found Anderson made several statements during his testimony that contradicted public records, including the claim that GHI has been non-operational since Sept. 25, 2022, when three hooded figures set the company’s warehouse on fire.
Edmonton police investigated the arson but did not solve it.
GHI continued to bid on municipal and provincial government contracts in subsequent years. The Elections Canada contract, which commenced in January, is further evidence GHI continued to operate after the fire.
After more texts citing “Randy” surfaced in July, von Finckenstein requested Boissonnault submit his call logs and text communications for the dates of Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, 2022. This is the third time in four months the commissioner has looked into Boissonnault’s dealings with GHI.
Hansen said the minister would provide all the records von Finckenstein requested.
“Minister Boissonnault was not involved in any of the text conversations that have been reported on and we are happy to show that again to the Ethics Commissioner,” Hansen said in a statement.
With a looming possibility of yet another ethics probe, public law and governance expert Stedman said Boissonnault has demonstrated he is not taking his obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act seriously enough to ensure he is above reproach.
“At this point, I don’t know how Trudeau would not just take away his ministerial post.”
Boissonnault is expected to testify before the ethics committee the week of Sept. 16.
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