OTTAWA – The chief witness in a parliamentary probe says he lied to a reporter when asked about ethics allegations against a federal minister.
The Conservatives are digging into whether Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault kept doing business with a company he previously helped run even after he joined cabinet, which would violate ethics rules.
The federal ethics commissioner opted against investigating Boissonnault after reviewing the minister’s private messages.
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 business partner named Randy, but he admitted during a committee hearing today that he lied in that interview.
Anderson now says the person referred to as Randy is a woman who asked him not to name her, and he would only be willing to share her identity with MPs privately — something opposition MPs said they wouldn’t allow because they don’t trust him to be truthful.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2024.
