The Trudeau government is still refusing access to unredacted documents on the “green slush fund” despite repeated calls by House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus.

Commons Law Clerk Michel Bédard testified Monday before the Public Accounts committee, where MPs learned he received documents from three government departments concerning the defunct Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).

Finance Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Treasury Board Secretariat “withheld some pages purportedly relying on the Access to Information Act,” he wrote to Speaker Fergus.

Bédard told committee members that each department listed in his letter is still refuting a prior order by the House Speaker.

Auditor General Karen Hogan earlier concluded that one out of six STDC projects she audited were ineligible for taxpayer funding. She later ordered the fund to be abolished in place of the National Research Council.

Before the summer recess, a Conservative motion ordered the public service, the auditor general and SDTC to provide Bédard with unredacted documents on the latter, which he would then provide to the RCMP.

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In a September 27 ruling, Fergus suggested the Commons Procedure committee study if “a prima facie question of privilege has been established.”

“The House has clearly ordered the production of certain documents, and that order has clearly not been fully complied with,” he said at the time, raising concerns that the Trudeau government violated the Constitution.

Bédard told MPs that only eight of 30 government organizations had complied with the Commons order to date. 

“We’re talking about documents, sometimes hundreds of pages, that have been withheld, and redactions that are not only about personal information but also solicitor-client privilege or other motives under the Access to Information Act,” he said.

But the clerk cautioned that parliamentary privilege, if established in this case, “supersedes over ordinary law,” and would permit the federal government to withhold  information under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, including solicitor-client privilege.

Bédard further dampened the spirits of opposition MPs, saying it is unlikely any of the procured documents would be used in a criminal proceeding by prosecutors, citing a violation of Charter rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

“It is doubtful that these documents could be used as evidence before courts of law,” he said.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme clarified the SDTC documents put the force in a legal “grey zone” and are beyond the normal reach of his investigators.

“First, it’s a little unusual how they were obtained,” Duheme said in an interview earlier this month. “Second of all, there may be some documents that are shared with us that we would have … no means to obtain search warrants in order to get them,” he said.

“I am concerned with regards to privacy,” he added. 

“I am concerned with how these documents were collected. Are there any parliamentary privileges associated with some of these documents? These are just some of the concerns … there’s a lot to untangle there.”