Mary Ng broke ethics rules over contract with friend: commissioner

OTTAWA-

International Trade Minister Mary Ng apologized on Tuesday after the federal Ethics Commissioner found she broke the rules by awarding a contract to a friend. .

Mario Dion published its report in response to a complaint filed in May by Conservative MP James Bezan, the party’s former ethics critic.

Ng’s office had awarded a contract to public relations firm Pomp and Circumstance in the spring of 2020. While it was worth just under $17,000, Bezan raised concerns about a possible breach of conflict of interest rules, taking into account the existence of a friendship. between Ng and company co-founder Amanda Alvaro.

In his report, Dion said he interviewed Ng and Alvaro, who had known each other for nearly 20 years and described their relationship as a friendship. Dion determined that their relationship met the definition of friendship under the Conflict of Interest Act.

Before Ng’s office awarded Alvaro’s company a contract, Dion said that in March 2020 – when the country was first grappling with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – Ng “entered into an informal phone conversation” with her friend to discuss “her concern that she wanted to be better prepared to speak to Canadians and businesses.”

Dion said the two confirmed to him that they had not discussed a contract between them, with Ng saying the “entire process was delegated” to his chief of staff, who was aware of the friendship.

“Based on the documents provided by Ms. Ng and Ms. Alvaro, Ms. Ng does not appear to have been involved in subsequent discussions regarding the negotiation of the final terms of the contract,” Dion wrote.

But he concluded the minister breached a section of the law by failing to recuse herself from the process that led to the decision to award the contract – something the commissioner says Ng herself admitted during the interview. survey.

Dion reported that during his investigation, Ng revealed that the company also received a contract in 2019 for $5,840.

“There is simply no excuse for contracting with a friend’s business,” Dion said in a statement Tuesday.

“This includes the need to quickly secure media training services to support Minister Ng in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.”

“Ministers are held to the highest standards of accountability, including those set out in the Conflict of Interest Act. Compliance with the law is a condition of appointment and employment for all public office holders.

During Question Period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Ng said she accepted “full responsibility” and should have recused herself from the decision-making process around the contract.

“At no time was there any intention for anyone to improperly benefit from it,” Ng said.

“My efforts fell short of my own high personal standards of transparency and accountability, which Canadians have come to expect from their elected officials. I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again. .”

In the House, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if Ng would be required to return the money paid to Alvaro’s company.

Trudeau dodged the question, instead making a statement about an Ontario by-election victory for the Liberals on Monday night.

Tory MP Michael Barrett, who is the party’s ethics critic, said Ng is just the latest Liberal cabinet member to breach ethics rules.

Trudeau himself was found guilty of breaking the law by accepting a trip to the Aga Khan’s private island in 2017, and the Ethics Commissioner reprimanded him again in 2019 for his role in the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

In 2020, Dion cleared Trudeau of wrongdoing when the government awarded a since-cancelled contract to WE Charity, to which the prime minister’s family has ties. But former finance minister Bill Morneau was found guilty of breaking the rules.

And in 2018, Dion ruled that Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc broke conflict of interest rules by approving an Arctic surf clam license to a business where a family member worked.

“The trend continues now with their trade minister,” Barrett said. He called on Ng to resign.

Statement by Minister Ng: pic.twitter.com/UVxExapYfL

— Mary Ng (@mary_ng) December 13, 2022

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on December 13, 2022.