Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson said he’s seen no evidence of a conflict of interest in a major taxpayer-funded loan to a Nova Scotia wind power project.
Robertson made the comments before the House Committee on Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities on April 15, testifying about allegations of conflicts of interest related to a $206 million loan issued by the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) in February for the Mersey River wind project.
He denied there was any wrongdoing in response to opposition statements that many Liberal Party connections were linked to the proposal. Robertson said he wasn’t involved with the CIB’s decision to grant the loan.
The development is projected to generate roughly 150 megawatts of electricity to provide power to more than 50,000 homes and catalyze more than $500 million in private investment, according to Robertson.
Opposition Concerns
Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval asked about some figures in the Liberal Party and their relatives having alleged links to the project, including several former Liberal MPs, but Robertson denied any impropriety.
“I think there’s a field of relationships,” Robertson said. “Certainly regionally, there are lots of members who have many relationships with business people or politicians.”
The infrastructure minister went on to highlight that the CIB, a Crown corporation, operates independently from the government. He said he didn’t look more closely at the loan after becoming aware of initial allegations of a conflict of interest.
“I did not ask questions or ask for more scrutiny,” Robertson said, adding that the details of the loan are confidential but that it was given at competitive market rates. “My sense of looking at this is that there are no partisan issues that are relevant here.”
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis said Canadians should be able to learn the details of the deal.
“Do you believe, minister, that Canadians have a right to know the interest rate and repayment terms of a $206 million taxpayer backed loan?” she asked.
“I do not know the specific terms of the deal. They are confidential between the bank and the project proponent,” Robertson responded, adding that the separation between the CIB and the government insulates the bank from political conflicts of interest.
Lewis disputed Robertson’s response, accusing the CIB of being “an institution set up for Liberal insiders to get below market rates money.”
‘Public Confidence’
Barsalou-Duval said the loan to Mersey River could erode “public confidence” in the CIB. Robertson rejected this assertion, saying the CIB’s track record of backing more than 100 projects across Canada and leveraging billions in private capital is a testament to its efficacy and non-partisan nature.
Robertson also said Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative government supported the project.
The CIB was formed in 2017 under the Trudeau government with the stated aim of boosting infrastructure spending and leveraging private-sector capital. The Crown corporation was provided with tens of billions in federal funding and given a mandate to invest in revenue-generating projects including transit, energy, and trade infrastructure.Robertson’s April 15 testimony echoes comments he made last summer regarding a BC Ferries procurement decision to contract a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build new vessels for its aging fleet. The contract was awarded several months after BC Ferries was approved for a $1 billion loan from the CIB.
Robertson told MPs that the deal was “not directly related to the federal government” and BC Ferries reached the decision independently.
