The federal government has suspended Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault’s former medical supply company from obtaining government contracts.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) suspended Global Health Imports (GHI) from bidding or entering into contracts with the federal government, effective Nov. 22, the agency said in a press release.
On Tuesday, Catherine Poulin, assistant deputy minister of departmental oversight at PSPC, told a parliamentary committee that the Edmonton Police Service’s (EPS) investigation into GHI was a factor in the decision to suspend the company.
“We have gone through multiple sources of information, including lawsuits … and the information that has been brought to our attention recently concerning an Edmonton Police Services investigation kind of put us at the right level of threshold to take action under the policy,” Poulin said.
Boissonnault co-founded GHI with Stephen Anderson, an Edmonton-area hockey coach, in early 2020 after Boissonnault lost his seat in the 2019 election.
When he was re-elected in the fall of 2021, Boissonnault said he resigned from GHI and no longer had any role in the company’s operations. He remained a 50 per cent shareholder in the company until late June.
Earlier this year, a series of Global News investigations revealed GHI’s legal troubles, including nearly $8-million in court-ordered debts, and later text messages Anderson sent in 2022 suggesting he was in touch with “Randy” in relation to business deals. At the time of the text messages, Boissonnault was a sitting cabinet minister.
Ethics rules forbid cabinet ministers from managing or operating private companies while in office, however, they are allowed to own shares. Canada’s Ethics Commissioner looked into the texts twice and decided not to launch a formal investigation, stating he found no evidence Boissonnault contravened ethics laws.
Boissonnault, who was employment minister until last week, exited cabinet after months of controversy surrounding the embattled medical supply business and more recent questions about his family’s Indigenous heritage.
He denies any wrongdoing and has blamed Anderson, his business partner, for using his name without his consent for personal gain.
Global News first reported the EPS was investigating GHI on Nov. 19, just days before Boissonnault’s ouster from cabinet and the PSPC ban took effect.
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Poulin said the ban will be in place for 90 days but can be extended, if necessary.
The EPS has an active investigation into a July complaint that alleged GHI and Anderson engaged in fraud in 2022. The alleged fraud took place about a year after Boissonnault said he resigned from the company. He was, however, a 50 per cent shareholder at the time.
In August, Global News reported that GHI had won a $28,000 contract to supply Elections Canada with disposable gloves. That contract was awarded in January 2024, when Boissonnault was employment minister. The contract was to remain active until the end of the year.
Elections Canada said, however, it has not been used and therefore it has not made any payments to the company.
Elections Canada said the contract did not include an Indigenous set-aside requirement, which is a mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to award at least five per cent of contracts to Indigenous businesses.
In an unsuccessful bid on a federal contract in 2020, Anderson claimed that GHI was a “wholly Indigenous” owned company, first reported by the National Post earlier this month. Boissonnault and Anderson were running the company together at the time.
Boissonnault’s office told the Post Anderson “had full responsibility for the bids” and the then-minister did not consent to Anderson making any claims about his heritage.
Boissonnault denies he ever claimed to be Indigenous, but he did identify himself as “non-status adoptive Cree” on several occasions in the past. He later clarified his adopted mother and brother are citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
Tory MP Garrett Genuis asked PSPC officials on Tuesday whether Anderson’s false claim that GHI was an Indigenous company factored into the department’s decision to suspend the company.
Michael Mills, associate deputy minister of the procurement branch of PSPC, told the committee that “was not a factor” due to the fact that GHI has never been on the Indigenous Business Directory, which lists the companies the federal government should consider to meet its Indigenous procurement target.
Businesses listed on the directory must be 51 per cent Indigenous owned and controlled.
Elections Canada also issued a full stop-work order to GHI a day after Global News reported that GHI was under criminal investigation.
Boissonnault’s office previously told Global News he had no knowledge of the Elections Canada contract and has not been contacted by any law enforcement agencies regarding GHI and Anderson.
Federal ethics laws forbid cabinet ministers from having stakes in companies that are awarded federal contracts, unless Canada’s ethics commissioner grants them an exemption.
Boissonnault’s office argued the exemption in the Conflict of Interest Act should apply. The ethics commissioner’s office cannot disclose, due to confidentiality, if it is investigating the matter.
GHI’s suspension comes after the federal government implemented its new Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance (OSIC) program earlier this year.
As part of the new program, the government also made changes to its Ineligibility and Suspension Policy, which lays out the rules for how PSPC can respond to problem suppliers.
The new policy, which came into effect May 31, expanded the list of offences that would lead companies to be suspended or deemed ineligible by OSIC.
Poulin said the new changes have given PSPC “much more authority” to address supplier misconduct.
“Prior to June 2024, we could only act if a company was criminally charged or convicted of a specific offence listed under the policy,” she said. “Now, we have much more room to assess various sets of behaviour and establish if we want to put mitigation measures in place, including suspension.”
PSPC also has a much broader ability to detect cases of wrongdoing through its new analytics tool, Poulin added.
No one has been charged in relation to the EPS’ investigation into GHI and Anderson.
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