The Conservatives hope to dispel doubts that the “other Randy” isn’t Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault by filing a motion to request his presence before a parliamentary committee.
Members of the committee may vote on the motion as early as Tuesday.
The “other Randy” scandal began after Boissonnault became embroiled in a conflict of interest investigation regarding text messages of alleged business dealings done while holding public office.
Boissonault claims that the “Randy” being referred to in the text messages wasn’t him and his appearance before the House ethics committee, scheduled for June 18, will either confirm these claims or reveal his defence to be false.
The text messages in question referred to someone named “Randy” receiving a wire transfer of around $500,000 to secure personal protective equipment from Global Health Imports in 2022.
Little is known about the identity of the “other Randy” so far, other than he was allegedly employed by Boissonault at the medical supply company he co-founded in 2020.
Boissonnault is now under investigation about his alleged continued involvement with the company since becoming a cabinet minister, if true, he would violate the Conflict of Interest Act.
Ethics Commissioner Konrad W. von Finckenstein announced that he would be investigating Boissonnault during a parliamentary ethics committee meeting last week.
“Clearly we will look into this,” said von Finckenstein. “If our looking into it shows there is substance to it, that there may be contravention of the (Conflict of Interest Act), then of course, we have the capacity to self-initiate an inquiry.”
However, Boissonnault claims that he hasn’t had any involvement with the company since taking office in 2021. A spokesperson for his office said that the “Randy” being referred to in the messages was the company’s “head of logistics” but declined to make his full name public.
“That person is not me,” Boissonault told the ethics committee on Tuesday, before claiming that he didn’t know the last name of the other Randy.
Boissonault has also claimed the alibi of being at a cabinet retreat in Vancouver at the time of the text exchange, saying that he had no access to electronic devices while at the retreat.
However, Conservatives are not convinced and have been grilling the Liberals about the scandal since last week.
“Canadians want to know, ‘Who’s Randy?’ The mysterious Randy is in control of a fraudulent company called Global Health Imports and his business partner Steven Anderson says he’s a public official,” said Conservative MP Dane LloydLloyd on Friday.
“And by pure coincidence, the minister of employment by the same name founded Global Health Imports and is a 50% shareholder. Now we just heard the minister say that he’s not involved, but isn’t he at all curious about who this Randy fellow is that’s committing fraud at a company he owns 50% at? Why won’t he tell us who this Randy is?”
According to the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner webpage, Boissonault “holds a significant interest in Global Health Imports Corporation.” Any assets owned by cabinet ministers which could increase or decrease in value due to decisions made by the federal government are required by law to be kept in blind trusts.
Under The Conflict of Interest Act cabinet ministers are barred from having “any power of management or control” over those assets while in office.
Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett told CBC News that the possibility that there would be another Randy working at GHI under Boissonnault, whose name remains unknown to him “stretches reason and belief.”
“It’s preposterous,” said Barrett “So we’ve made this request. It provides an opportunity for there to be a demonstration by Randy Boissonnault’s business partner that he was being forthright.”
