Committee Update
The month of November has started with a bang at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO). This month Stephanie had two significant motions that she moved to continue the investigation into ArriveSCAM and the $9 million luxury New York condo purchased for Tom Clark.
ArriveCAN
The fight to find Minh Doan’s emails continue. Doan was the Chief Information Officer at the CBSA during the creation of ArriveCAN. He is now the Chief Technology Officer of Canada (Treasury Board). Despite being a central figure throughout the ArriveSCAM scandal, he deleted thousands of emails shortly after he was informed that he was subject to an ATIP request.
Despite the Committee requesting these documents, the CBSA deleted his old files, including the corrupted drive that contained his deleted emails — once he moved to Treasury Board.
Stephanie moved a motion in OGGO that requested officials (and the IT member who originally alerted the media of the deleted emails), to come to Committee to explain the real story. Public servants should not be able to move to another department to “clear the slate” and hide information they do not want the Canadian public to know. Common-sense Conservatives will continue to hold this government to account.
New York Condo
Tom Clark lied to OGGO about his involvement in the purchase of his new $9 million luxury condo on Billionaire’s Row in New York City.
After Committee members time and time again that he never voiced any concerns about the original official residence, in early November, it was revealed that Tom Clark did tell Global Affairs that he had many concerns with the suitability of the apartment. These concerns were stated just two months after he started the position, and just four months later, work was underway to find Tom Clark a new luxury apartment.
Despite many protests from the Liberals, Opposition members voted to bring Clark back to committee to explain why he lied and give him the opportunity to set the record straight once and for all. Canadians are struggling and deserve to know that their tax dollars are being spent responsibly, not on luxury accommodations for the Prime Ministers’ best friends.