In ethics hearing about Liberal minister, business exec admits he lied to a reporter

OTTAWA — The chief witness in a parliamentary probe said Wednesday that he lied to a reporter when asked about ethics allegations against a federal minister.

MPs have been demanding clarity for weeks about allegations Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault kept doing business with a company he previously helped run after he joined cabinet, which would violate ethics rules.

The federal ethics commissioner opted against investigating Boissonnault after reviewing the minister’s private messages.

Boissonnault has said his business relationship with the company ended in September 2021, when he was elected again in the Edmonton riding he had lost in 2019.

But the Tories want to know why his former business partner Stephen Anderson repeatedly referred to someone named Randy in text messages sent after Boissonnault became a minister.

Anderson recently told Global News that he was referring to a separate person named Randy who was his company’s logistics head. But he admitted Wednesday to the House ethics committee that he lied in that interview.

“I admit that I did panic,” Anderson testified.

“So you lied,” responded NDP ethics critic Matthew Green.

“To the reporter, I did,” Anderson answered.

He testified that the name Randy was a result of an autocorrect, which the Conservatives argued strained credibility, as Anderson typed it multiple times in the text messages.

They also noted that the messages refer to the person named Randy being in Vancouver on Sept. 6, 2022, which was when Boissonnault and the rest of the Liberal cabinet was meeting in that city for a retreat.

The text messages were exchanged between Anderson and a businesswoman who is suing his company over claims that it didn’t fulfil a paid order for nitrile gloves.

Anderson now says the person he erroneously referred to as Randy is a woman who asked him not to publicly name her, as everyone else connected to the matter has faced an onslaught of online messages, on top of being named in ongoing legal proceedings.

He said he would only be willing to share her identity with MPs in an in-camera context, which is a private setting that bars those attending from sharing information publicly. Opposition MPs said they wouldn’t allow this, because they don’t trust Anderson to be truthful.

The committee has asked Boissonnault to again testify on the matter.

“If there is nothing to hide, then the Liberals will end the coverup now,” reads a statement from the Tory caucus.

Boissonnault released a written statement after the meeting, in which he did not mention whether he’d appear for testimony, but said he has surrendered his shares in Anderson’s company with no compensation.

“I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the testimony of Mr. Anderson at the ethics committee today,’ he wrote.

“If Mr. Anderson has subsequently been using my name without my consent to gain influence, he should simply explain that to the committee.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press