New Randy Texts Lead to Third Ethics Investigation into Boissonnault’s Business Dealings
Parliament of Canada ethics commissioner said it has launched a third preliminary investigation into the business dealings of Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault.
Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein said he wrote a letter to Boissonnault on Wednesday saying he was “concerned” about new text messages that had surfaced in which Boissonnault’s former business partner cited consulting with a person named “Randy” about a 2022 trade deal.
Stephen Anderson, who co-founded a medical supply company with Boissonnault, mentions the name “Randy” nine times in text messages sent to a customer on Sept. 6 and 8, 2022, a year after Boissonnault announced his resignation from the company.
Edmonton-Centre MP Boissonnault was Minister of Tourism at the time.
Federal ethics laws prohibit cabinet members from operating or managing businesses while in office.
Boissonnault was a partner at Global Health Imports (GHI) until September 2021, when he won back his Edmonton Centre seat and was appointed to cabinet. He then resigned, as required by law for public office holders, but remained a 50 per cent shareholder until recently. Ministers are allowed to own stakes in private companies.
The commissioner first examined Boissonnault after Global News reported in May that he remained on GHI’s director list Boissonnault said he thought Anderson would update the company records after he resigned, but that was not the case.
The second preliminary investigation took place a month later when Global News has revealed Anderson’s texts sent to a customer on September 8th showing someone referred to only as “Randy” requesting a “partner call.”
In both cases, von Finckenstein decided not to launch a formal investigation.
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The minister has repeatedly said he is not the “Randy” of text messages.
Last month, Global News has obtained new texts from September 6Two days earlier, that show showed Anderson informing someone named “Randy” of the status of the trade deal ahead of schedule.
Anderson was discussing the sale of a large shipment of medical gloves to the Ghaoui Group, a California-based company. In text messages sent to Malvina Ghaoui, a director at the Ghaoui Group, Anderson mentions that “Randy” is involved in a “partner vote” on the deal.
Another text places “Randy” in Vancouver at the very time that Boissonnault was there for a cabinet retreat.
“I have Randy and the others, I need to give an update,” Anderson wrote to Ghaoui on September 6, 2022, followed by: “I’m asking because the west coast is closing in 7 minutes and Randy is in the Vancouver office.”
Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett questioned Anderson about the new rules during his testimony before the ethics committee in July.
Anderson said the nine references to “Randy” were the result of “autocorrect” and declined to publicly disclose the identity of the person he meant to refer to.
Von Finckenstein announced the investigation during his testimony at a public accounts committee meeting Thursday. The committee was discussing the ArriveCAN investigation, but Barrett asked the commissioner if he had watched Anderson’s testimony and was aware of the new text messages.
“Does this new information require further examination of the matter on your part?” Barrett asked.
Von Finckenstein responded that he was convinced that the minister had not been in contact with Anderson on September 8.
“We looked at all of that evidence and there was absolutely no way of knowing whether there was any contact between him and Mr. Anderson. And now new information has come to light,” Mr. Von Finckenstein said.
Credits: (left) Instagram/Stephen Anderson, (right) The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
He said he asked Boissonnault to send him phone records and screenshots of communications from various messaging apps for September 6 and 7, 2022.
The commissioner said that as part of the initial investigation, Boissonnault only provided him with these documents by September 8, 2022.
“When I have that, I will determine whether Mr. Anderson is using (Boissonnault’s) name in vain or whether there were genuine conversations.”
Boissonnault’s communications director, Alice Hansen, said in a statement that the minister would provide all documents requested by the commissioner.
“The Ethics Commissioner has twice reviewed Minister Boissonnault’s past dealings and has concluded both times that there was no cause for concern,” Hansen wrote.
“Minister Boissonnault was not involved in any of the text conversations that were reported and we are pleased to demonstrate this again to the Ethics Commissioner.”
Boissonnault has been called to testify again before the ethics committee in September, when the House resumes.
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