Pandemic profiteers strike again: Sheila Copps’ firm sues for share of $2B federal contract amid lobbying scandal
BTNX denies Copps’ firm's role in securing the deal, alleging that any lobbying efforts were conducted illegally.
Former Liberal deputy prime minister Sheila Copps is back in the spotlight, for all the wrong reasons.
Her firm, MediPro Canada Inc., is suing for $100 million in an attempt to reap a slice of a $2 billion federal contract she helped secure for rapid-test supplier BTNX during the COVID chaos.
But there’s one small oopsie oversight: Copps wasn’t registered as a lobbyist, and now the contractor says she broke the rules, justifying their leaving her high and dry.
Sneaky or savvy? You decide.
Emails uncovered by the National Post show Copps working her Liberal Rolodex, setting up cozy meetings with top dogs in then-procurement minister Anita Anand’s office to push masks and tests. One sketchy N95 deal even got flagged by 3M as potential fraud, sparking a police probe. Yet, Copps insists she’s just a “salesman,” dodging the Lobbying Act because she wasn’t paid up front.
Convenient, right?
Experts like Carleton’s Robert Shepherd aren’t buying it, saying her high-level schmoozing screams lobbying, paid or not.
While Copps waltzed into Ottawa’s inner circle, Canadian PPE makers like Vitacore Industries were left pounding the pavement, despite Trudeau’s “Buy Canadian” lip service. Smells like favouritism, especially with Copps’ Liberal ties.
The lobbying commissioner’s staying mum, but the stench of unaccountability is hard to ignore.
It’s another black eye for Ottawa’s pandemic procurement, already marred by ArriveCan and WE Charity fiascos.
Who can forget that the then-procurement minister, Anand’s husband, John Knowlton, was linked to companies that received hundreds of millions in federal COVID-related contracts, raising concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest back in 2022, despite Anand's claim of non-involvement in the decision-making process.
As Copps’ lawsuit unfolds, it’s a stark reminder that in Ottawa’s pandemic power plays, the well-connected often cashed in while accountability took a backseat. Will this latest saga finally force a reckoning, or is it just another chapter in Canada’s cronyism chronicles?
Featured Stories
6:25
