The lobbyist met with high-ranking ministry staffers across federal departments, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office and the office of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.met with high-level political staff in six federal departments, including one where Boissonnault was also associate minister, a Global News investigation has found.
As is legally required of elected officials, Boissonnault handed over control and the remaining administrative duties to Kirsten Poon, his friend and business associate. Poon had worked as a lobbyist for Xennex.“Minister Boissonnault always met all of his conflict of interest and ethics obligations as a public office holder,” Hansen told Global News.
While Boissonnault’s office told Global News the minister has followed conflict-of-interest and lobbying rules, experts consulted by Global News expressed concerns about whether Boissonnault had met the high bar of transparency set by these regulations.requires ministers to avoid using their offices “to further his or her private interests … or to improperly further another person’s private interests.
Nevertheless, he said, “This is an example of an arrangement with a ‘former’ business associate … that I don’t think the public would be comfortable with.” “There is a difference between being compliant with the rules, which may be the case here, and the ethics of the relationship,” explained Robert Shepherd, a professor of public policy and program evaluation at Carleton University.
The Office of the Lobbying Commissioner told Global News that it could not comment on Poon or Boissonnault’s activities. Xennex had no website and had been dormant for years, but by spring 2020, the first year of Boissonnault’s cooling-off period, it won Edmonton Regional Airports Authority’s contract away from one of Canada’s largest public relations firms.
“Just to have a proxy person lobbying for you, when it’s your firm,” he said, was insufficient distance between Boissonnault and the lobbying contract.Boissonnault “did not participate in work activities that involved communication with a federal public office holder nor did he arrange meetings with a public office holder on behalf of Xennex or its clients. There is no failure to comply with the Lobbying Act,” she stated.
With Boissonnault advising and Poon lobbying, Edmonton International Airport received $25 million in pandemic recovery funds in July 2021, one month after he was nominated for his riding and two months before the federal contest.Xennex Venture Catalysts, an influential federal lobbying firm, in 2020 and 2021 operated from former MP Boissonnault’s home in Edmonton’s Inglewood neighbourhood.