The federal government announced it will be suspending contracts with former minister of employment Randy Boissonnault’s former medical supply company in response to the onslaught of scandals surrounding the business which began this summer.
Global Health Imports has been suspended from “bidding or entering into contracts with the Government of Canada” by Public Services and Procurement Canada for 90 days.
A press release from the agency said the suspension was effective as of Monday.
“The suspension will last for a period of 90 days and may be extended as necessary until a final decision regarding the supplier’s status under the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy is rendered,” it said.
According to assistant deputy minister of departmental oversight at PSPC Catherine Poulin, the Edmonton Police Service’s investigation into GHI played a role in the decision to suspend the company.
“We have gone through multiple sources of information, including lawsuits … and the information that has been brought to our attention recently concerning an Edmonton Police Services investigation kind of put us at the right level of threshold to take action under the policy,” Poulin told a parliamentary committee.
Most recently there was the issue of GHI sharing a post office box with a cocaine smuggler in Edmonton, which came to light earlier this month.
Boissonnault co-founded the company with Stephen Anderson in 2020 while he was temporarily out of office after losing his seat in the 2019 election. He resigned from the company in 2021 after he regained his seat, however, he remained a 50% shareholder in the company until June of this year.
Boissonnault initially became embroiled in controversy over a conflict of interest investigation regarding text messages of alleged business dealings done while holding public office.
The messages referred to someone named “Randy” receiving a wire transfer of around $500,000 to secure personal protective equipment from GHI in 2022.
The former employment minister claimed that these messages were referring to someone else at the company named Randy, however, it would later come out that no one else had that name at GHI, dubbing his alibi as the “Other Randy” scandal.
The story from former partner Anderson would soon shift to the name Randy being referenced numerous times to be the result of a series of autocorrect mistakes.
However, trouble would continue to follow Boissonnault after he stepped away from the company and for entirely different reasons.
GHI’s name surfaced during an inquiry launched into a government program that was thought to be exploited by companies falsely claiming they were Indigenous-owned businesses.
GHI was involved in bidding on contracts under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, a federal procurement program designed to boost the Indigenous economy.
“Global Health is a wholly owned Indigenous and LGBTQ Company,” wrote Anderson in a bid for a contract to supply face masks June 2020.
In a separate bid submission to PSPC for a contract to supply face shields, Anderson again called the company “Aboriginal” twice.
Boissonnault said that Anderson did this without his knowledge and that he intends to take legal action against his former business partner for using his name without his consent.
However, Boissonnault himself had claimed to have Indigenous heritage many times over his years in Parliament, something that he has since rescinded and apologized for.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced that he would be stepping away from cabinet in response to the whirlwind of scandals surrounding his former company and false claims of Indigenous heritage last week.
“The Prime Minister and MP Randy Boissonnault have agreed that Mr. Boissonnault will step away from Cabinet effective immediately,” read the PMO’s statement. “Mr. Boissonnault will focus on clearing the allegations made against him.”
Public Services and Procurement Canada said that one contract with GHI and the government remains active, which was “awarded by Elections Canada through a competitive procurement process that did not include an Indigenous set-aside requirement.”
“Elections Canada has confirmed that no deliverables have been received and no payments have been made against the contract. Moreover, on November 20, 2024, Elections Canada issued a full stop-work order to Global Health Imports Corporation,” it said.
