Boissonnault cleared in preliminary ethics probe of his business dealings
Canada's ethics commis‐ sioner will not be investi‐ gating claims that Employ‐ ment Minister Randy Bois‐ sonnault broke conflict of interest rules and a prelim‐ inary probe turned up no evidence the minister acted improperly, ac‐ cording to a letter obtained by CBC News.
"I no longer have con‐ cerns that you may have con‐ travened your obligations un‐ der the Act and will take no further action at this time," says the June 25 letter from Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein to Boisson‐ nault.
Boissonnault faced ques‐ tions after Global News pub‐ lished September 2022 text messages between the em‐ ployment minister's former business partner at Global Health Imports (GHI), Stephen Anderson, and Malv‐ ina Ghaoui, the principal of the U.S.-based company The Ghaoui Group.
Boissonnault co-founded the PPE company GHI and currently holds shares in GHI through his holding com‐ pany. Cabinet ministers are not allowed to engage in managing or operating a business or commercial activ‐ ity.
The texts referred to the involvement of someone named "Randy" in a discus‐ sion about a wire transfer of roughly $500,000 to secure a large shipment of nitrile gloves.
That led to near-daily questioning from the Conser‐ vatives about the identity of the "other Randy" - and whether Boissonnault had broken the law by being in‐ volved in the daily operations of the company more than ten months after being sworn in to cabinet.
Boissonnault denied the allegations, telling the House of Commons in June that he has "had no role in this com‐ pany since being elected in 2021."
He also told the ethics committee that he didn't know the last name of the other Randy.
"That person is not me," he said.
'No evidence' to support allegations, commis‐ sioner says
But the letter from the com‐ missioner says that Boisson‐ nault submitted call logs and texts from three of his per‐ sonal devices for the day in question - September 8, 2022 - and the information provided supported Boisson‐ nault's statement that he did not have any correspon‐ dence with Anderson.
"Other than the name 'Randy' being used in text messages from Mr. Anderson to Malvina Ghaoui, messages which according to the pub‐ lished excerpts were neither addressed nor copied to you, I do not have any informa‐ tion before me to support
the allegation that you were involved in managing or op‐ erating GHI on September 8, 2022," said the letter from von Finckenstein.
The letter also said that Boissonnault confirmed with the ethics commissioner that he stopped working with GHI when he was elected in 2021, and provided documentation indicating that his resignation as director was noted in the company's corporate min‐ utes in October 2021.
The Conservative opposi‐ tion had been calling for the identity of the "other Randy" to be made public, but the person's last name has never been released.
Michael Barrett, the Con‐ servative Party's ethics critic, said the party's MPs won't drop their inquiries just be‐ cause the ethics commis‐ sioner has decided not pur‐ sue a further investigation.
"After nine years of this scandal-plagued government under Justin Trudeau, who has twice been personally found guilty of breaking ethics laws, it's clear that they're not worth the corrup‐ tion or the coverups. The ethics commissioner's deci‐ sion not to investigate does not exonerate Minister Bois‐ sonnault so long as impor‐ tant questions remain unan‐ swered," Barrett said.
Barrett said Boissonnault and his former business part‐ ner should have been more forthcoming with a Com‐ mons committee that wants to probe this matter further.
"The refusal by the coowner to release phone records and documents to a parliamentary committee has only further raised suspi‐ cions," he said.
"The Liberals could clear the air, but they are instead using every tool to hide the truth. They blocked the other 'Randy' from testifying and refuse to answer simple questions, including the iden‐ tity of who the elusive other
Randy is."
Publicly available records don't list anyone named "Randy" as having worked for GHI, other than Boisson‐ nault.
Anderson is set to appear in front of the House of Com‐ mons ethics committee dur‐ ing the week of July 15 to an‐ swer questions about these text messages, and Boisson‐ nault's previous work with the company.