The RCMP says it has documents connected to a political debate that has brought government business in the House of Commons to a halt.
But a letter from the House law clerk suggests not all of the documents have been submitted by the government.
The governing Liberals have been unable to move forward on any legislation since Speaker Greg Fergus ruled last week that the government “clearly did not fully comply” with an order from the House to provide documents related to a now-defunct foundation responsible for doling out hundreds of millions of federal dollars for green technology projects.
That House order said the documents should be transferred to the RCMP to investigate potential criminality.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says the RCMP ‘did receive the documents.’ Reporters asked Duheme Thursday about whether he thought receiving documents from the House of Commons regarding a now-defunct foundation responsible for doling out hundreds of millions of federal dollars for green technology projects was interference by the House of Commons into police work.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters Thursday the Mounties already have the documents in question.
“We did receive the documents and there is an investigation ongoing, so I will limit my comments to that,” Duheme said when asked about the debate in the House.
CBC News asked the RCMP if all the documents related to the House order. A spokesperson for the RCMP only said the police force received a batch of documents in August as a result of the House order.
“The RCMP can confirm having received the documents from the Office of the House of Commons Law Clerk relating to Sustainable Development and Technologies Canada (SDTC) which were collected in August pursuant to an Order of the House of Commons,” the spokesperson said in an email.
“While the Commissioner has confirmed there is an investigation, given its ongoing status the RCMP is not in a position to provide additional details pertaining to the documents in question.”
But a letter from the House law clerk to the Speaker’s office suggests the RCMP may not have received all the documents the House requested.
The letter, dated Sept. 16, says that more documents from Innovation, Science and Economic Development were still forthcoming at the time. It also says that documents from the Department of Justice “were currently completely withheld.”
RCMP questioned whether it could use documents
Despite the investigation, Duheme has said the RCMP had no reason to suspect criminal wrongdoing in the case.
“The RCMP has concluded that the available reports do not identify any criminal offences or evidence of criminal wrongdoing at this time,” Duheme wrote in a letter to the House of Commons law clerk in July.
In the same letter, the commissioner also warned that the RCMP would not be able to use the documents in an investigation if they were obtained through the actions of the House of Commons.
“The RCMP’s ability to receive and use information obtained through this production order … in the course of a criminal investigation could give rise to concerns under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he wrote.
Government business has been put on indefinite pause in the House and opposition parties say it will stay that way until the Liberals hand over documents related to the government’s now-defunct Sustainable Development Technology Canada program. The Power Panel weighs in on the brewing battle over the House agenda.
In June, the federal government abolished a $1 billion green fund in response to a report by the auditor general that pointed to “significant lapses” in its handling of federal funding.
Auditor General Karen Hogan said Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) violated its conflict of interest policies 90 times, awarded $59 million to 10 projects that were not eligible and frequently overstated the environmental benefits of its projects.
The Liberals have raised concerns about the House interfering with the independence of the police by providing the RCMP with the documents.
Government House leader Karina Gould called the request for the documents an abuse of Parliament’s power and claimed it tramples on the Charter rights of Canadians.
“Let’s be very clear. This is the Conservatives trying to muck up Parliament,” Gould said Thursday.
“Conservative members of Parliament are here for their own political, personal objectives and they don’t care what they do to Canadians in the meantime, and that is something that should be extremely alarming to all of us.”
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer disputed that claim. He said the Charter of Rights exists “to protect the people from the government. It is not there to protect the government from accountability by the people.”
“[The Liberals are] willing to have Parliament ground to a halt rather than hand over this information to the RCMP for a potential criminal investigation,” Scheer told The Canadian Press on Thursday.
In his ruling last week, Fergus said it was “unprecedented” for the House to require the government to produce documents for the purpose of providing them to a third party — the RCMP, in this case.
Fergus suggested that the matter be studied at the House procedures committee. MPs have been debating how to proceed ever since. Because the matter has been ruled a question of privilege, it takes precedence over all other House business until the issue has been resolved.
