$470 M in Tax Dollars Lost to “Pump and Dump” Scheme
Yesterday at the Finance Committee I asked the President of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Ehren Cory, about at least $470 million of Canadians’ tax dollars being lost through a grant to Lion Electric to make electric buses.
The company then went bankrupt, and its President walked away with $33 million from shares he sold just before the bankruptcy. The Government of Canada made no contingency plans to recover the wasted tax money.
Today, I raised the issue in the House of Commons during Question Period. Will the government at least call in the RCMP to investigate this “pump and dump” scheme, in which the taxpayer got pumped before the shares got dumped?
“The president of Lion Electric, Marc Bédard, sold $33 million of his shares prior to its bankruptcy. In what is known as a “pump and dump” stock play, the Liberal government acted as the pump for millions of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Bédard and his friends then orchestrated the dump, and they walked away with millions of dollars. The former minister did not include a share lock-up with the grants. This is at least gross incompetence. It is a financial crime, the victims of which are Canadian taxpayers.“
Greg McLean – Question Period Friday, 13 February, 2026
For Further Reference
- View the official transcript from the House of Commons in Hansard.
Greg’s First Round of Questions for Ehren Cory, Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
I began my questioning of Mr. Cory by asking about CIB investments in electric buses. I asked about the performance of those investments and about at least one subsidy provided to a company that is actually based in the United States. I also pointed out that the school buses supported by the CIB, manufactured by Lion Electric, were taken off the road because they had a propensity to catch fire. Mr. Cory took no responsibility for that apparent error in due diligence.
Greg’s Second Round of Questions for Ehren Cory, Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
The bank has allocated millions of Canadian tax dollars to companies that propose to make electric buses, but with dubious results. This particularly includes major injection of funds (over $430 million, directly and indirectly) to Lion Electric which went bankrupt before putting any buses on the road. I want to know if that money has been written off as a loss to taxpayers.
Mr. Cory’s answer reveals a complicated financing structure that obscures any actual benefits to Canadians and, in fact, appears to ensure that Canadians are always the parties at risk if an investment doesn’t pan out. He refused to acknowledge that the money is lost, with no benefits.
His refusal to offer clear answers suggests there is something going on that he doesn’t wish to reveal to the committee, and thus to Canadians who foot the bill.
I began to touch on the benefits to insiders from the money given to Lion Electric. We know that the President sold $33 million in shares just before the company went bankrupt, but after the stock price went up due to the taxpayer-funded injection of capital (a scheme known in the financial world as “pump and dump” – pump up the stock price with an injection of government money, and then dump shares at a higher price). We also know that a person closely affiliated to Lion sits on the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s board. There’s more to discover here.
Greg’s Third Round of Questioning Mr. Cory
I had a brief follow-up question about insiders making a lot of money by selling Lion Electric shares after the price went up (due to an injection of Canadian taxpayer funds) and before the company went bankrupt.
We know that the Lion Electric president sold $33 million worth of shares during that window, and also that a member of the CIB Board is closely affiliated to Lion.
Unfortunately, the Liberal committee chair did not permit Mr. Cory to answer the question due to time constraints. But putting the question on the record is a first step in getting to the bottom of this incompetent (likely fraudulent) use of Canadian tax dollars.