The conflict of interest and ethics commissioner is recommending that all federal ministers and parliamentary secretaries report to his office for training after MP Greg Fergus became the latest high-profile Liberal to violate the Conflict of Interest Act.
“Offers to provide training and educational sessions on a variety of topics have been offered to all federal parties and to regulatees, yet we continue to see a succession of mistakes that are largely attributable to the inability to recognize the need to seek consultation,” Commissioner Mario Dion said Tuesday.
“I therefore recommend that the government consider mandating all ministers and parliamentary secretaries to receive training from the office.”
Dion made the remarks in his ruling against Fergus, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s parliamentary secretary. Fergus was found to have violated the act by writing a letter of support for a television channel’s application to the CRTC for mandatory carriage.
Under parliamentary rules, MPs can write letters of support to the CRTC in support of an application, but parliamentary secretaries and cabinet ministers cannot.
“Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are subject to both the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons in their role as parliamentarians, and to the Conflict of Interest Act in their role as government officials,” Dion said. “That is because they wield more influence than backbench MPs.
“Being dual-hatted does not mean Mr. Fergus can circumvent the rules of the Act by simply wearing his MP hat to sign a letter of support to an administrative tribunal.”
More to come …
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