Annette Verschuren, former chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, in Toronto, April 11, 2014. Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein found Verschuren should not have participated in board votes to approve $38-million in pandemic relief payments for SDTC’s portfolio companies in 2020 and 2021.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
The federal ethics commissioner has ruled the former chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada contravened conflict-of-interest rules when she failed to recuse herself from funding decisions for companies she has ties to, including one she leads as chief executive.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein found Annette Verschuren, chair of the federal cleantech funding agency from 2019 to 2023, should not have participated in board votes to approve $38-million in pandemic relief payments for SDTC’s portfolio companies in 2020 and 2021.
Ms. Verschuren has a financial interest in one of those companies, NRStor Inc., and is its founder and CEO. The energy-storage company was a recipient of SDTC funding beginning before she began her tenure chairing the federal agency’s board. She had declared that interest when the government appointed her to the position.
Ms. Verschuren, a former CEO of Home Depot Canada, has been adamant that she followed legal advice for the pandemic funding decisions.
She said the agency’s counsel, Ed Vandenberg, had advised that recusals weren’t needed because any conflicts were declared previously, and NRStor would not benefit more than any others as payments were made to all STDC companies, Mr. von Finckenstein noted in his report.
In another decision, Mr. von Finckenstein ruled Ms. Verschuren at times did not abstain or recuse herself from funding decisions for early-stage companies that were nominated for SDTC grants by two accelerators in which she was a director. They included the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, which she founded, and the MaRS Discovery District.
The commissioner did not suggest that Ms. Verschuren had sought to profit from her position. “It was clear that Ms. Verschuren took what she believed to be the right steps to manage her conflicts of interest. However, she did not meet the act’s requirements,” he said in a statement.
He will provide the report to the Prime Minister, who has the authority to decide if any sanctions are warranted, said Melanie Rushworth, spokesperson for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
Ms. Verschuren resigned as chair in November as controversy grew after an investigation into SDTC, ordered by the federal government in response to whistle-blower complaints, found evidence of conflict-of-interest breaches and inappropriate funding.
Since then, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne disbanded SDTC’s board and folded the agency into the National Research Council. He made the move in early June as Auditor-General Karen Hogan issued a scathing report concluding SDTC failed to follow conflict-of-interest policies as it awarded tens of millions of dollars to companies with ties to its directors and managers.
Ms. Hogan also found the agency funded numerous cleantech projects that did not meet criteria in the contribution agreement that governs how it distributes public money, or deliver the promised reductions in carbon emissions.
In a statement, Ms. Verschuren said she has committed herself to high standards of governance and ethics through her career, and followed legal advice to make sure she complied with the guidelines in place at SDTC when she was chair.
She cited passages from the report, in which the commissioner mentioned a lack of consistency for decision-making at SDTC and incorrect legal guidance given to the board for creating a perception of conflict.
“I accept his decision – just as he accepts that I took what I believed to be the right steps to manage any conflicts of interest,” Ms. Verschuren said.