Ottawa, ON – Today, Michael Barrett, Conservative Shadow Minister for Ethics and Accountable Government, and Leslyn Lewis, Conservative Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, released the following statement on taxpayer money being given to a company controlled by Liberal insiders:
“This week, Canadians found out that the Carney government gave a $206 million below-market rate loan, along with nearly $150 million in other subsidies, to a wind farm in Nova Scotia tightly connected to former Liberal MPs.
“Roswall Development Inc. owns the company that will sell electricity to consumers from the Mersey River Wind Farm. Sitting on Roswall’s Board of Directors are:
- Chair Michel Samson, the Cape Breton-Richmond MLA until 2017 and former interim leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party;
- Edgar Samson, brother of the Liberal MP for Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook, Darrel Samson, until 2025;
- Mitchell Brison, the brother of Scott Brison, who is a long-time friend and political advisor to Mark Carney, as well as the former Liberal MP for Kings-Hants and Cabinet Minister; and
- President Dan Roscoe, founder of Renewall Energy and son-in-law of David Dingwall, who served as Liberal MP for Cape Breton-East Richmond until 1997 and held federal cabinet positions.
“A similar wind farm project in Nova Scotia, Everwind, was able to secure $240 million in private sector financing for its own project; however, it appears as if this project secured preferential treatment for below-market financing. That’s a cost that taxpayers will have to pick up.
“All of it sounds a lot like the Liberals’ green slush fund scandal, where Liberal insiders gave $330 million in taxpayers’ dollars to their own companies, involving 186 conflicts of interest and confirmation from the Ethics Commissioner that laws were broken.
“Roswall Director Edgar Samson was previously involved in the Liberal Arctic Surf Clam quota scandal, where the Ethics Commissioner found Liberal Minister Dominic LeBlanc violated federal ethics laws because he made a decision that furthered the private interest of a Mr. Thériault, his wife’s first cousin and the general manager for the Premium Seafoods consortia.
“Government insiders should not be getting rich on the backs of Canadians. Canadians deserve transparency about how $206 million from the Canada Infrastructure Bank was allocated to this project.
“Conservatives support this call for transparency, including the full release of documents related to the decision to award public dollars to Mersey River Wind and Roswall Development Inc.”