Canada Energy Regulator officials say politically appointed directors must follow tightened ethics rules as the federal agency updates its code of conduct following an earlier case involving an employee who owned shares in an energy company.“Appointees are expected to respect the principles,” said Canada Energy Regulator spokesperson Mireille Ferland.The regulator did not identify a specific incident that prompted the revised Code Of Conduct. However, Access To Information records previously disclosed an unnamed employee had breached ethics rules by trading shares in Hydro One of Ontario.Blacklock's Reporter said the updated code applies ethics requirements to cabinet appointees as well as employees.“Directors and commissioners are expected to respect the principles of this Code Of Conduct and uphold the Values And Ethics Code For The Public Sector in a positive and active manner,” said the document.Managers said appointees and employees are “expected to demonstrate behaviour in the workplace that afford respect, equality and dignity to everyone they interact with at work at all times.”The code requires employees to “prevent and resolve any real, apparent or potential conflicts of interest” and “effectively and efficiently use the public money, property and resources managed by us.”The regulator said maintaining public confidence requires employees to demonstrate ethical conduct.“In our role as public servants and employees of Canada’s national Energy Regulator we must work to earn and maintain public trust,” said the code. “We do this by modeling ethical behaviour.”The revisions follow Access To Information disclosures in 2021 involving an unnamed regulator employee who was found to have owned shares in Hydro One, one of Canada's largest utilities.“There was a breach of the Code Of Conduct,” said an internal memo.The breach was reported four years after the Hydro One shares were purchased, according to federal records.“The facts established a clearer breach of the Code Of Conduct prohibition against holding shares in energy companies,” said a May 31, 2021 internal memo titled Ethical Issue For CEO’s Attention..The employee had signed annual declarations claiming compliance with the regulator's ethics rules. No penalties were imposed.The regulator has also dealt with potential conflicts involving senior appointees.Deputy Lead Commissioner Kathy Penney pledged to the federal Ethics Commissioner in 2021 that she would recuse herself from matters involving TransCanada Energy Corporation after the company employed her son, Ben Pike.“I have agreed to abstain from any discussion, decision, debate or vote in relation to TransCanada Energy Corporation or its subsidiaries,” Penney wrote.Penney said she and the Ethics Commissioner agreed to establish a conflict-of-interest screen to prevent her official duties from benefiting her son's private interests.“The Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed that a conflict of interest screen is an appropriate compliance measure,” Penney wrote in a Summary Statement.She said the measure was intended to prevent any opportunity for her to further the private interests of her son, who participated in a performance share unit program as a TransCanada Energy employee, or to provide preferential treatment to the company or its subsidiaries.
