Western Standard - May 01, 2026


Conservative MP Dan Mazier accuses Liberals of shutting down committee over $300M program

Elections Alberta files legal action against independence advocacy group THE PIPELINE： Carney’s debt-backed wealth fund

Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

197.56

Word count

949

Sentence count

48

People

Also mentioned:
Matt Strauss

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, we discuss why the government shut the cameras off at the end of a committee meeting, why they did it, and what it means for the future of the committee and the investigation into the $300 million boondoggle.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 My real question here is, do you have any expectations given the restructuring committees?
00:00:04.600 Now liberals have a majority in the committees and they can pretty sickly vote down the meetings and everything else.
00:00:11.200 What's your realistic expectations going forward?
00:00:13.620 Well, you know, well, if this is the way it's going to continue on, it could be pretty devastating.
00:00:19.980 I mean, we were minutes into the meeting with the first, with the new chair and the power that they have,
00:00:26.560 and they absolutely abused it when we walked in there.
00:00:29.540 So we still don't know why they went to turn the cameras off.
00:00:33.900 That is still unknown.
00:00:35.280 They have not answered that.
00:00:36.620 The media tried to get some answers out of them, and there was no reason.
00:00:40.340 Like, I don't think, but they're the only ones that can answer that.
00:00:43.820 As far as that was, I think I got to answer that question.
00:00:46.860 So as far as moving forward, I hope the Liberals don't decide to keep on abusing their power that they have right now.
00:00:52.460 But we'll wait and see.
00:00:54.040 Well, they have the authority to vote committees in camera and shut the cameras off and keep things behind the closed doors.
00:01:03.220 But do you believe that this is a tactic?
00:01:05.400 And, of course, it's been used not only at the health committee, but other committees earlier this week.
00:01:10.100 Do you think this is a kind of way of avoiding accountability?
00:01:12.900 Oh, absolutely.
00:01:14.140 I mean, they knew the motion going in.
00:01:17.740 I put it on social media.
00:01:19.140 They knew exactly we were just going to be voting and asking the Auditor General to look at prescribed IT at $300 million boondoggle.
00:01:27.380 There's no secrets about that.
00:01:29.140 We were all frustrated as a committee a week before with all the officials that came in from the investigation.
00:01:37.240 And so why close the doors?
00:01:39.600 They knew we were going to ask for the Auditor General to be called in to investigate.
00:01:44.920 So only they can answer why they went into camera.
00:01:48.780 If I'm quoting Matt Strauss correctly, he said that the CEO had a $1 million salary.
00:01:54.560 And I believe he's also given a bonus as well with that, even though he eventually has been dismissed now.
00:02:00.840 That leaves about $298 million, $99 million left in that $300 million figure you guys keep quoting.
00:02:07.320 So how are you guys going to go after that?
00:02:09.380 Well, I think I'm going to quote it as we're going to figure out where the other $299 million went.
00:02:15.680 And there was actually there's a I think it was either the Globe and Mail or National Post.
00:02:21.580 They actually put like there's 24 vice presidents like there's a whole bunch with their with their salaries and all that kind of stuff.
00:02:29.280 So you can if you want that or you can probably look that up on the mail.
00:02:33.460 But that wasn't that was another thing.
00:02:34.960 He wouldn't even admit his salary.
00:02:36.440 Right.
00:02:36.600 The CEO that was there, like he wouldn't even tell us the salary until we found out.
00:02:41.280 But I guess it was through a different access of information.
00:02:45.880 So we found it out, but it was not being too forthwith about a salary.
00:02:50.200 Well, committees aren't the only ways to get to the bottom of these situations when government spends big money on big projects that they proposed.
00:02:56.680 But committees have helped in the work that they've done in terms of bringing testimony, investigations, and specifically bringing people that the government has hired to answer and put their feet to the fire.
00:03:05.300 You know, in 2021 and even the last election, you know, you've had multiple majority governments, I think three successive minority governments, excuse me, who have been able to.
00:03:16.200 And that's why you've been on these more balanced committees where opposition had much more leverage to get these answers.
00:03:24.580 Well, we can keep it in daylight.
00:03:25.780 I think that's a more important thing to say.
00:03:27.960 Like, if this is more abnormal and they're going to start turning the cameras off, like, if that's the way they're going to run a government, they're all about keeping it in the dark.
00:03:38.220 They're not about, like, showing sunlight.
00:03:40.180 Like, if, again, it goes back to why did they go and turn the cameras off? 0.89
00:03:45.180 I mean, bringing back to the memory with these minority governments, you had the Arrive Canada issue, you had, you know, the We Charity, you had multiple other projects that were, again, had a rippled effect onto the government's approval and onto public opinion as well.
00:04:02.140 So do you think that the government has been blessed by floor crossing and a very slim majority in order to keep themselves a little bit more safer from that kind of scrutiny?
00:04:11.160 I mean, do you expect there to be the similar, it's just going to be one of those scandals or is this going to be a story that they successfully bury?
00:04:18.200 I'll make sure, well, I'm going to, until we find out about the bottom of it, I guess we do nothing but assume, right?
00:04:23.700 So we'll figure out the facts and see what goes on.
00:04:26.140 But I think the story will tell itself.
00:04:27.840 Obviously, if they're turning the cameras off already and we're just asking for the Auditor General to look at it,
00:04:32.840 We do still have tools as MPs, as elected officials, even as opposition, we have tools available to us to make sure that this story gets told.
00:04:42.240 And taxpayers, at the end of the day, are footing up bail for all this and they have a right to know.
00:04:47.020 Thank you very much for your time.