A Liberal-appointed senator who co-founded a Halifax dental equipment company has been granted an ethics exemption after the firm obtained a loan from a federal Crown bank, despite Senate rules barring senators from holding interests in businesses that benefit from dealings with Ottawa.Blacklock's Reporter says Sen. Colin Deacon of Nova Scotia, a founding shareholder of BlueLight Analytics Inc., was found by the Senate Ethics Officer to fall within an exception to the chamber’s conflict-of-interest code after the company successfully secured financing from the Business Development Bank of Canada.“My view is your situation falls under the exception,” wrote Senate Ethics Officer James O’Reilly, concluding that the federal loan was unlikely to influence Deacon’s obligations as a senator.Deacon founded BlueLight Analytics in 2009. The company supplies dental imaging equipment and is based in Halifax. Corporate filings show Deacon and his wife together hold a 10.7% ownership stake in the firm.While neither Deacon nor the ethics office disclosed the value of the Business Development Bank loan, the Senate’s Ethics And Conflict Of Interest Code explicitly prohibits senators from holding an interest in a private corporation that derives a benefit from a “business arrangement” with the federal government or any of its agencies, unless a written exemption is granted..Section 22 of the code allows such an exemption if the ethics officer determines that the arrangement is in the public interest or is unlikely to affect the senator’s duties.O’Reilly relied on that clause to approve Deacon’s involvement, arguing the senator’s lack of operational control over the company reduced any potential conflict. “The loan arrangement between BlueLight and the Business Development Bank is unlikely to affect your obligations under the Code because you are not involved in the company’s operations,” he wrote.O’Reilly went further, questioning whether the loan even constituted a benefit under the rules. “It is not clear to me that a loan with the Business Development Bank is a ‘benefit,’” he wrote, adding that he nonetheless assumed it was for the sake of caution before granting the waiver..The ruling is not the first time Deacon’s business interests have drawn scrutiny. In 2019, Blacklock’s Reporter revealed that BlueLight had received $119,980 in National Research Council grants while Deacon remained listed as a director of the company. Deacon rejected allegations of a conflict at the time.“When you’re a director of a start-up you are not involved in that,” Deacon said in an interview. “You’re really involved in strategy and value you deliver to customers.”
