Greenwashing cash: Guilbeault’s Cycle Capital shares turn up in ethics filings

While managing partner Andrée-Lise Méthot claimed yesterday that Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault “received zero dollars” from Cycle Capital, a heavily subsidized Montreal firm, ethics filings tell a different story—Guilbeault reported income from the firm while in cabinet.

Guilbeault worked as a lobbyist for Cycle Capital for 10 years before entering politics for the Liberals in 2021. 

Méthot, who sat on the board of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), painted Guilbeault as a fellow environmental advocate with no shares in Cycle Capital, her controversial company which received millions from SDTC while she was part of the government body of the "green slush fund."  

However, his 2023 ethics filing contradicts her statement, indicating a “passive interest.” Meanwhile, Cycle Capital pocketed $10.4 million in federal subsidies from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, an agency dismantled after a scathing audit uncovered 186 conflicts of interest.

Conservative MP Rick Perkins blasted Méthot for violating the law, which prohibits board members from personally benefiting from agency funds. “You broke the Act,” Perkins declared. As Canadians struggle with record food bank usage, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley didn’t hold back: “Millions are accessing food banks while insiders grab taxpayer cash.”

Méthot’s attempt to deflect criticism rang hollow: “I don’t want to take anything away from food banks.” But this scandal lays bare Ottawa’s cronyism—where the powerful profit and ordinary Canadians pay the price.