The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) voted on Thursday 22 October 2026 (meeting 50) on a motion by Conservative MP Jasraj Hallan, first moved on 8 October:

That the committee report to the House that it is of the view that recovering the $34 million in taxpayer funds paid out to ineligible projects through Sustainable Development Technology Canada is in the public interest. — PACP motion, negatived 22 October 2026

How they voted

The official minutes record that debate took place and the motion was negatived 5–4:

  • Yeas (4): Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Bloc Québécois); Ted Falk, Jasraj Hallan, William Stevenson (Conservative)
  • Nays (5): Peter Fonseca (substituting for Kristina Tesser Derksen), Daniel Gobeil, Ron McKinnon, Tom Osborne, Jean Yip (all Liberal)

The chair, Conservative John Williamson, did not vote. At the committee’s previous meeting (meeting 49), Liberal members carried a motion to adjourn 5–4 while the same motion was being debated.

Where the $34 million comes from

Sustainable Development Technology Canada was the federal clean-tech foundation dissolved in 2024 after Auditor General Karen Hogan’s Report 6 (June 2024), which found $59 million went to 10 of 58 projects she examined that did not meet key eligibility requirements, and widespread conflict-of-interest lapses. The committee’s own report to the House in the last Parliament (PACP Report 43, 44th Parliament) called for the money to be recovered.

According to the National Post, a written response from Industry Minister Mélanie Joly tabled in the House in September said SDTC’s own review of 158 projects found five ineligible, worth about $34 million, and that pursuing recovery “was not likely to be successful, and not in the public interest” because recipients had acted in good faith. We have not obtained the tabled response itself; the $34 million figure also appears in the motion text in the committee’s official minutes.

Citizen impact: Taxpayers are not getting the $34 million back. The committee vote is not binding on the government, but it means the committee will not tell the House that recovery is in the public interest. The five recipients have not been publicly named.

What this piece refuses

One report of the vote said the motion was rejected “without debate”; the official minutes say “Debate arose thereon” before the vote, so we do not repeat that. We do not name the five projects (the government has not) and we do not say any recipient acted improperly.

Bottom line

PACP voted 5–4 on 22 October, Liberals against, Conservatives and Bloc for, not to declare recovery of SDTC’s $34 million in ineligible payouts in the public interest. The government has already said it won’t try.