Monday, January 27, 2003

OTTAWA - In response to the Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson's decision on the weekend, Democracy Watch today repeated its call for an independent, effective investigation of the conversations and agreements betweeen Finance Minister John Manley, Rod Bryden of the Ottawa Senators, and John Hunkin, CEO of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

"No one should believe the Ethics Counsellor when he says John Manley is innocent," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. "The Ethics Counsellor has not fully investigated Manley's actions, he has no independence or investigative powers, and so is once again acting as a frontman for the Prime Minister giving his stamp of approval to the highly questionable behaviour of a Liberal Cabinet minister. An independent investigation is needed into Manley's actions."

Given the lack of effective action possible by the Ethics Counsellor, Democracy Watch called on parliamentarians to set up an independent inquiry into Manley's actions.

In his ruling, the Ethics Counsellor did not even mention the following rules of the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders (the Public Office Holders Code), and as a result he also clearly did not conduct an investigation to answer the very relevant questions set out below:

• under Part I, sub-section 3(7), to "not step out of their official roles to assist private entities or persons in their dealings with the government where this would result in preferential treatment to any person." (QUESTION 1: Did Manley give Bryden preferential treatment, or does he call the bank CEO for every constituent who comes to him with a bank financing problem?);
• under Part II, subsection 23(3), to "not accord preferential treatment in relation to any official matter to family members or friends or to organizations in which they, family members or friends, have an interest." (QUESTION 2: Is Bryden, as reported in the media, a friend of Manley's, and if so, did Manley give Bryden preferential treatment?);
• under Part II, subsection 23(1), to "take care to avoid being placed or the appearance of being placed under an obligation to any person or organization, or the representative of a person or organization, that might profit from special consideration on the part of the office holder." (QUESTION 3: Was Manley under an obligation to Bryden (or the appearance of an obligation), given his acceptance of Bryden's invitation to sit in Bryden's private box at an Ottawa Senators playoff game in the past? QUESTION 4: Did Rod Bryden do anything for John Manley (or has he promised to do anything) in return for Manley making the call to Hunkin, such as make any donation to Manley for any purpose (NOTE: if so, it would be a violation of the Criminal Code); and
• under Part I, subsection 3(3), "in fulfilling their official duties and responsibilities, shall make decisions in the public interest and with regard to the merits of each case" (QUESTION 5: Was it in the public interest for Manley to call the CEO of the CIBC, and during the one day between receiving Bryden's call and calling Hunkin, did he regard the merits of all sides of the re-financing deal and making the call?)

In addition, the Public Office Holders Code requires ministers to "to uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government are conserved and maintained" and "to perform their official duties ... in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny, an obligation that is not fully discharged by simply acting within the law." Manley's actions raise serious questions about violations of all the rules set out above.

By failing to address these rules and questions, the Ethics Counsellor has revealed yet again that he has no independence in his position as advisor under the Public Office Holders Code. Even if he did investigate, Wilson has none of the needed investigative powers in that position.

The federal Liberals have proposed to eliminate the Ethics Counsellor position and replace him with an independent Ethics Commissioner with full investigative powers. Given the lack of an independent, effective investigation of the Manley situation and other past situations involving Liberal Cabinet ministers, the new Ethics Commissioner must also be given the power to investigate past situations as well as future allegations.

"The federal government will never govern with integrity until the holes in the current ethics system are filled," said Conacher. "We need a strong ethics law for all MPs and Senators, need to change the ministers and lobbyists and public servants codes into laws, and need a new, fully independent, fully empowered Ethics Commission to investigate and publicly rule on alleged violations of all ethics laws, with full protection for whistleblowers." These measures to make the federal government ethics system effective are all supported by Democracy Watch's nation-wide Government Ethics Coalition, made up of 32 citizen groups with a total membership of more than 2.5 million Canadians.

Democracy Watch also currently has two applications in court challenging what it believes is bias and failure to uphold legal duties by the Ethics Counsellor in the past.