A report by Ethics Commissioner Hon. Marguerite Trussler, Q.C., has found only one UCP caucus member, Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh, breached the Conflict of Interest Act in voting for Bill 22..Bill 22, the omnibus legislation introduced in the Alberta Legislature in November 2019, roundly came under fire by the Official Opposition..NDP leader Rachel Notley sent a request for an ethics investigation specifically with regard to the portion of the bill that effectively terminated Alberta’s Election Commissioner role..Notley’s complaint centred around the conflict of interest that one has, as an elected member as part of a partisan political party, to benefit the future success of the party as a whole, in order to benefit personally from that success..Trussler, as well as previous commissioners cited in the report, disagreed..“In my view, a Member does not have a private interest in the outcome of an investigation by the Election Commissioner into another Member in the same political party,” Trussler stated in the report.. Trudeau on WE scandal: Case closed .Trussler referenced a 1997 investigation into former Premier Ralph Klein where Commissioner Robert C. Clark was forced to determine the scope of “personal interest” of elected officials..“If political interests, especially the interest in winning an election, is a ‘private interest,’ practically everything a Member does could be a breach of the Act because almost every activity undertaken by an elected official contains an element of seeking popular support and the possibility of receiving that support in a re-election bid,” Clark wrote..After reviewing the evidence provided and previous rulings, Trussler determined only those who were currently under investigation by the Elections Commissioner would have a “personal interest” in seeing the termination of the position and that interest would not apply to other caucus members..Even if a private interest is identified, as it was in the case of Peter Singh, his only infraction was that he did not declare the conflict and remove himself from the proceedings. Singh did, however, abstain from the vote on Bill 22..Trussler recommended Singh apologize for the procedural misstep..Notley was also removed from the Legislature after accusing the UCP House Leader, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon, of “misleading” the members about the Bill..Speaker Nathan Cooper halted debate and asked that Notley apologize..“The greatest jeopardy posed in this house is posed by Bill 22,” Notley responded..“And at this point we must have a full and honest conversation that does not involve misleading statements by any member over there.”.The former Premier was barred from re-entering the Legislature until she withdrew her remarks – which she did six days later..“We strongly disagree with the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling on Bill 22,” Notley wrote on social media..“When UCP MLAs voted to fire the very individual investigating their leader, they were in clear conflict. The law is broken and must be fixed to prevent this abuse of power.”.Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter @Mitchell_AB
A report by Ethics Commissioner Hon. Marguerite Trussler, Q.C., has found only one UCP caucus member, Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh, breached the Conflict of Interest Act in voting for Bill 22..Bill 22, the omnibus legislation introduced in the Alberta Legislature in November 2019, roundly came under fire by the Official Opposition..NDP leader Rachel Notley sent a request for an ethics investigation specifically with regard to the portion of the bill that effectively terminated Alberta’s Election Commissioner role..Notley’s complaint centred around the conflict of interest that one has, as an elected member as part of a partisan political party, to benefit the future success of the party as a whole, in order to benefit personally from that success..Trussler, as well as previous commissioners cited in the report, disagreed..“In my view, a Member does not have a private interest in the outcome of an investigation by the Election Commissioner into another Member in the same political party,” Trussler stated in the report.. Trudeau on WE scandal: Case closed .Trussler referenced a 1997 investigation into former Premier Ralph Klein where Commissioner Robert C. Clark was forced to determine the scope of “personal interest” of elected officials..“If political interests, especially the interest in winning an election, is a ‘private interest,’ practically everything a Member does could be a breach of the Act because almost every activity undertaken by an elected official contains an element of seeking popular support and the possibility of receiving that support in a re-election bid,” Clark wrote..After reviewing the evidence provided and previous rulings, Trussler determined only those who were currently under investigation by the Elections Commissioner would have a “personal interest” in seeing the termination of the position and that interest would not apply to other caucus members..Even if a private interest is identified, as it was in the case of Peter Singh, his only infraction was that he did not declare the conflict and remove himself from the proceedings. Singh did, however, abstain from the vote on Bill 22..Trussler recommended Singh apologize for the procedural misstep..Notley was also removed from the Legislature after accusing the UCP House Leader, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon, of “misleading” the members about the Bill..Speaker Nathan Cooper halted debate and asked that Notley apologize..“The greatest jeopardy posed in this house is posed by Bill 22,” Notley responded..“And at this point we must have a full and honest conversation that does not involve misleading statements by any member over there.”.The former Premier was barred from re-entering the Legislature until she withdrew her remarks – which she did six days later..“We strongly disagree with the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling on Bill 22,” Notley wrote on social media..“When UCP MLAs voted to fire the very individual investigating their leader, they were in clear conflict. The law is broken and must be fixed to prevent this abuse of power.”.Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter @Mitchell_AB
