Senator Sarabjit Marwah (Ont.) is refusing comment over his close ties to Scotiabank while serving on the Senate banking committee..Marwah would not answer numerous requests for confirmation he kept a Bay Street office at Scotiabank and used a bank e-mail address, even as a senator, said Blacklock’s Reporter..Marwah was appointed to the Senate in 2016 and had been the bank’s $1.2 million-a year chief administrative officer..Executives in 2014 announced Marwah’s retirement after 35 years at the Bank of Nova Scotia’s Toronto headquarters. The bank did not comment August 12..The Ethics And Conflict Of Interest Code For Senators does not prohibit members from working at federally-regulated corporations like banks while drawing their $160,800-a year Senate salaries. Active stock trading in any publicly-traded corporation is also allowed..Senator Marwah last year drew $341,500 in corporate fees as a director of Cineplex Inc. and George Weston Ltd., operator of Loblaw supermarkets, and was a dollar-a-year consultant to the Department of Finance. In 2019 he resigned a third directorship at Telus Communications Inc. that paid $228,279 a year. All three directorships included a total $4.3 million in stock options, according to financial filings..Another Liberal appointee, Senator Tony Loffreda (Que.), a former Royal Bank executive, said he cut all ties to the private sector on taking his appointment two years ago. “I have not maintained an office at the Royal Bank and resigned from my RBC position once I was nominated to the Senate,” said Loffreda. “This was in order to avoid any conflicts of interest and to strictly focus and devote all my time and energy to the Senate.”.Loffreda said he also resigned from 21 boards and foundations, including Montréal’s Jewish General Hospital. “It broke my heart,” he said..“I wanted to be a great senator,” said Loffreda. “I wanted no conflict of interest or even a perception of conflict. My role is to serve the public. I have only one interest, and that’s Canada.”.The Senate Ethics Officer in a separate 2019 case reprimanded a legislator for “blurring the line” by maintaining an office at Power Corporation. Senator André Pratte (Que.) resigned following disclosures he attended meetings with corporate managers to discuss Senate business..“I am of the view that it is likely that an apparent conflict of interest was created by virtue of it,” wrote Ethics Officer Pierre Legault..“In holding the meetings you held at Power Corporation that were related to your Senate duties and functions, though you did it for practical reasons and in good faith, you blurred the line between your Senate duties and your work at Power Corporation.”.“I am not convinced this situation did not have a negative, albeit minor, impact on the public’s confidence and trust in the integrity of your office as senator,” wrote the ethics officer..Senator Pratte resigned from his position at Power Corporation on August 15, 2018 and quit the Senate two months later. “It saddens me,” Pratte wrote in his resignation letter..Mike D’Amour is the British Columbia Bureau Chief for the Western Standard..mdamour@westernstandardonline.com
