Trudeau’s Transparency Infection Spreads
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is skating on thin ice after his latest jaw-dropping effort to dodge accountability. Despite clear evidence showing his department oversees the shady $8 billion green fund, Guilbeault stunned Parliament by brazenly denying responsibility.
This blatant refusal to own a massive program under his watch could become Guilbeault’s political undoing. The minister is already on shaky ground over his extremism, but transparently misleading Canadians about who controls billions in spending may prove an indefensible abuse of power.
Guilbeault’s denials have crossed the line from standard Liberal dodging into possible misconduct. With accountability now a firing offense in the Trudeau cabinet, Guilbeault’s days could be numbered if he continues trying to deceive the public.
Guilbeault Denies Ties To $8B Secret Climate Fund
The Trudeau government’s habit of dodging responsibility and pointing fingers has hit a new low with Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Despite clear evidence that his department co-chairs the advisory board for the controversial $8 billion green fund, Guilbeault brazenly told the Environment Committee that only the Department of Industry oversees the massive program.
This buck-passing is just another symptom of the Trudeau cabinet’s chronic refusal to take ownership. The PM’s avoidance of accountability has trickled down to his ministers, leaving Canadians with a government that’s allergic to transparency and honesty.
Guilbeault’s shameless denial of responsibility for the Green Fund is just the latest in a series of Liberals denying facts to escape blame. If this government put half as much effort into serving citizens as they do into dodging accountability, Canada would be in much better shape.
The $8 billion Net Zero Accelerator fund, which is supposed to subsidize green factory conversions, is mired in controversy over its secretive terms and apparent lack of emission reduction standards.
When asked about the lack of public details on the $8 billion giveaway to corporations, Guilbeault claimed it’s not his department’s responsibility and pointed the finger at Industry Canada.
However, official documents confirm that Environment and Climate Change Canada does co-chair the advisory board that reviews applications and allocates Net Zero Accelerator funding alongside Industry Canada.
Guilbeault is either embarrassingly unaware of his own department’s role or deliberately misleading Parliament to avoid accountability. Neither option looks good for a minister.
Guilbeault’s denial of obvious facts is just another example of the Trudeau government’s reflex to pass blame whenever they’re pressed to explain questionable conduct.
Whether the PMO pressuring the Justice Minister on SNC Lavalin, denying inappropriate pandemic awarding of government contracts, or refusing to disclose details of massive spending, “it wasn’t me” seems to be the automatic response from Liberal ministers.
Canadians deserve better from their elected representatives than childish deflections of responsibility. The Liberals seem to have forgotten the principles of honesty and public service in their endless quest to avoid consequences.
And this cancer of denial appears to have thoroughly corrupted Steven Guilbeault; he transformed into just another evasive politician under Trudeau’s mentorship.
Beyond Guilbeault’s transparent finger-pointing, serious concerns remain about why the government refuses to disclose details of the massive green fund spending.
Canadians have no breakdown of which companies are receiving what share of the $8 billion, or what measurable emission reduction targets recipients have committed to.
Considering the huge sums being awarded to highly profitable corporations, it is unacceptable for the government to hide behind claims of “commercial sensitivity.” The Liberals are spending public money, and the public has every right to know where it is going and what taxpayers are getting in return.
The environmental commissioner’s scathing report on the fund’s lack of transparency and unclear returns suggests that Liberal secrecy is more about concealing poor results than protecting commercial interests.
By blocking scrutiny, the government dodges accountability for what looks like a poorly-defined cash giveaway with meager emission reductions at a staggering cost.
What little public data is available doesn’t look good. The environmental commissioner found costs per tonne of emission reduction ranged up to a jaw-dropping $523. That’s far from the “efficiency” the Liberals promised when selling this corporate handout to Canadians.
Even more concerning, some companies receiving subsidies had provided zero emission reduction targets. Essentially getting paid from the public purse for nothing.
The Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco summed it up best when he said “I would say the primary failure is for them to closely track the amount of emissions they are getting for each dollar they are spending. It’s simple enough to dole out money but you need to do it in a way that creates value for money for taxpayers because ultimately it is taxpayers who are paying.”
Yet the Liberals continue funneling billions to big business through the accelerator fund with no public reporting requirements or accountability. It reeks of a political slush fund to buy corporate support and positive headlines while doing little for the environment.
In fact, evidence suggests the $8 billion fund may be even more sinister than a cash giveaway to big polluters.
Secrecy Around $8B Green Fund Raises Red Flags
So let’s break it down and connect the dots on the Trudeau government’s $8 billion climate fund. It looks like this massive fund is being used to manipulate public opinion rather than actually supporting environmental initiatives.
There’s evidence suggesting that a huge chunk of this money has been secretly funneled to buy favorable media coverage and silence any critics, especially through their go-to propaganda machine, the CBC.
The contribution agreements are super opaque, making it hard to see which companies and organizations are getting taxpayer money from the fund. This murkiness provides perfect cover for payments to media firms and influential journalists to parrot Liberal talking points.
This fund essentially lets the government pressure media outlets like the CBC to provide positive coverage while starving critics of resources. Canadians end up unaware that the news they’re consuming is biased by climate dollars with partisan strings attached.
The Trudeau government seems to have built a sophisticated system to shape narratives and manufacture consent using public money supposedly for green projects.
The CBC has been implicated in possibly receiving disguised payments to slant its coverage. Executive bonuses soared last year while the corporation claimed poverty and laid off 141 employees. Despite financial struggles, top execs were exempted from hardship, which reeks of political favor.
Given the ongoing media bailouts by the Liberals, these well-timed bonuses raise suspicions that taxpayer money used to keep the CBC afloat came with expectations of favorable journalism. By covertly influencing the media, the Liberals undermine Canada’s free press and open democracy while dodging accountability.
Spending $8 billion to subtly coerce the media into pushing government interests is a massive abuse of power. It seems like this fund is more about controlling public opinion than reducing emissions. Canadians deserve to know how their money is being used and if shady deals are silencing critical voices.
Steven Guilbeault’s evasiveness and refusal to disclose details on contribution agreements suggest the Liberals have a lot to hide. If they were committed to transparency, they’d freely provide the data needed to evaluate this megaproject funded by taxpayers.
The fact that the Liberals block information requests indicates the scale of their deception. They can’t justify their use of the funds, so they resort to hiding inconvenient truths behind a wall of secrecy.
It stinks of a government using climate action as a cover to push its political agenda.
The $8 billion green fund mess has even caught the attention of famed professor and intellectual Jordan Peterson.
He didn’t hold back, unleashing a storm of criticism towards Trudeau and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for their handling of the controversial fund.
Guilbeault’s shirking of responsibility and the Liberals’ constant secrecy should concern all Canadians. It reflects a government that thinks it’s above scrutiny or consequence, only being accountable when absolutely necessary.
This is a dangerous mindset, especially when dealing with billions in public funds. Canadians deserve honesty and transparency from their leaders, not childish denial and finger-pointing when asked reasonable questions.
At the very least, the Liberals should immediately disclose who is receiving Net Zero Accelerator money, how much each is getting, what emission targets they’ve committed to, and progress reports proving those reductions. There’s no excuse for hiding these details from taxpayers.
Canadians deserve representatives who focus on serving the public interest, not on avoiding consequences for missteps like Trudeau and his eco-extremist minister.
