All eligible MPs have completed mandatory ethics filings after a lone Liberal scofflaw was named and shamed for late filing in 2020. “If someone deserves to be punished for handing something in late, I am guilty,” MP James Maloney (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, ON) said at the time..According to Blacklock's Reporter, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion reported that 100% of eligible MPs, a total of 335, were in full compliance with the Conflict Of Interest Code For Members. “Each member must disclose their private interests and those of their family members if applicable,” wrote Dion..The Code requires that MPs file returns detailing assets including stocks and rental properties, household debts including car loans, and third-party income. A Disclosure Summary is made public and updated annually..Three individuals were excluded from this winter’s count: Liberal MP Charles Sousa (Mississauga-Lakeshore, ON) just elected on December 12, Liberal MP Jim Carr (Winnipeg South Centre, MB) who died on December 12, and Conservative MP Bob Benzen (Calgary Heritage, AB) who resigned December 31..Maloney, a lawyer, was the last member of the 43rd Parliament to file his Disclosure Statement months after other legislators. Maloney was required to apologize for the ethics breach he described as a paperwork error. “I apologize unconditionally,” he said..Records showed Maloney as then-chair of the House of Commons natural resources committee held extensive undisclosed stock holdings in 44 corporations including SNC-Lavalin, Bank of America, Canadian National Railways, Google, Cenovus Energy, Philip Morris International, Starbucks and Suncor Energy..Maloney subsequently lost his committee chairmanship in 2021. “Do not dare question my ethics or my integrity,” he told the House of Commons..Dion complained he had to ask Maloney 15 times to disclose his financial records like all other MPs. “Not only did he delay completing his disclosure well beyond a reasonable time, he also failed to respond to communications from the Office for months,” Dion wrote in a Nov. 19, 2020 report..The Ethics Commissioner in testimony last February 3 at the House affairs committee said a simple apology for an ethics breach was insufficient. “Whether there is a demand on the part of the public for access to more penalties, I think there is,” said Dion..The Commissioner said he would “leave it to parliamentarians to determine, in order to have a credible response in principle, whether it is necessary to look at possible penalties under the Code or to increase them or to give me more authority vis-à-vis recommending such penalties.”.Opposition MPs passed a motion of censure against Maloney. “Members need to know there will be a reckoning if there is a breach of the Code,” Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, ON.), sponsor of the censure motion, earlier told the Commons..“We have seen a slow and steady degradation of the confidence Canadians can have in this democratic institution.”
