FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch announced that it will challenge Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion's ruling on Prime Minister Trudeau's participation in the WE Charity grant approval process because the Commissioner let Trudeau off even though Trudeau clearly violated the federal government ethics law.
The Ethics Commissioner concluded that, because PM Trudeau’s spouse volunteers as an ambassador and champion for WE Charity, including hosting a podcast for it, and his mother and brother have been paid large sums to give speeches for the charity, and the PM has also appeared at several WE events, there was “a strong appearance of conflict between the Trudeau family’s relationship with WE and Mr. Trudeau’s duty to make decisions that best serve the public interest.” (paragraphs 248-250).
However, the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling first claims, wrongly, that Trudeau was not in a real or potential conflict of interest. Democracy Watch’s position is that, because of the extensive, direct and ongoing family ties between the Trudeau family and WE, especially the fact that his spouse is a WE ambassador and podcaster, the PM was clearly in a potential conflict of interest when WE Charity began engaging with the government about the grant, and then in a real conflict of interest as soon as WE Charity engaged with Cabinet and the PMO.
Secondly, the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling claims, wrongly, that being in an appearance of a conflict of interest is not a violation of the federal Conflict of Interest Act (CofI Act), and that only being in a real or potential conflict of interest is (paragraphs 252-268).
This part of the ruling is wrong because the purpose of the CofI Act is to prevent all “conflicts of interest” whether real, apparent or potential (subsections 3(b) and (c)), and the Act prohibits federal politicians and government officials from participating in specific decisions like handing out grants and contracts when they are "in a conflict of interest" (sections 4 and 6) which includes any type of conflict of interest, real, apparent or potential (as the Federal Court of Appeal ruled unanimously in 2009 (para. 49)).
Thirdly, Commissioner Dion’s ruling ignores the real meaning of the second part of section 4 of the Act that prohibits taking part in a decision if it offers an opportunity to “improperly further” another person’s or entity’s interests. That is a very broad prohibition, as the Commissioner himself concluded in the Trudeau II Report on the SNC-Lavalin scandal (paragraphs 286 and 296-301). According to the Commissioner, “improper” includes a violation of any of the PM’s Code rules, and that Code’s Annex B rule prohibits the PM and ministers from being in an appearance of conflict of interest.
Trudeau has said he should have recused himself, and Ethics Commissioner Dion says at the end of his ruling that “it is always advisable to recuse oneself and inform the Commissioner promptly when facing an apparent conflict of interest” (paragraph 269). Why? Because it is clearly improper to take part in a decision when in an apparent conflict.
“Commissioner Dion contradicts himself, ties himself into knots, and cuts the federal ethics law into pieces in his ruling letting Prime Minister Trudeau off even though he clearly violated the law,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.
Just like Commissioner Dion’s ruling on the SNC-Lavalin scandal situation, which Democracy Watch is challenging in court, he has again failed to interpret and apply the law to prevent conflicts of interest and hold everyone accountable for violations.
"Ethics Commissioner Dion has rolled over like a lapdog and again failed to properly enforce the federal law that prohibits conflicts of interest by letting Prime Minister Trudeau off even though he took part in the WE Charity grant approval process when he had a conflict of interest," said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. "Democracy Watch will challenge the Ethics Commissioner's ruling in court because it sets a very bad precedent that will allow politicians and government officials to take part in future decisions to hand out money to individuals and organizations that have close relations with their families."
Democracy Watch’s court case will also challenge Commissioner Dion’s ruling because he was biased as he was handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet through a secretive, dishonest process, and he had a record of 8 unethical and questionable actions when he was Integrity Commissioner, and his senior lawyer is a Trudeau Cabinet minister’s sister-in-law.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: info@democracywatch.ca
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