Trade Minister Mary Ng will not repay the cost of contracts improperly awarded to a personal friend and CBC pundit. According to Blacklock's Reporter, the payments for media coaching were the equivalent of more than $2,800 an hour..“I made a mistake,” Ng testified at the House of Commons ethics committee. Ng said she “put measures in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”.“Do you think taxpayers should be reimbursed?” asked Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, Ont.). “I have already said I made an error,” replied Ng..The Ethics Commissioner last December 13 faulted Ng for what he called inexcusable breaches of the Conflict Of Interest Act. The minister awarded sole-sourced contracts worth $22,790 to Pomp & Circumstance Public Relations, a Toronto consulting firm run by longtime friend and CBC-TV Power & Politics commentator Amanda Alvaro..Ng said the payments were for two coaching sessions by Zoom on April 10 and May 3, 2020. Training time totaled about eight hours, the equivalent of $2,849 per hour..“You used your position to further the interests of your best friend to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars,” said MP Barrett. “Do you not think in this scenario that warrants that taxpayers are reimbursed? Do you think someone should pay the money back?”.“I want to be clear about what the issue is — ” replied Ng..“The issue is we have a Minister of the Crown who used her position to further the interest of her friend,” interrupted MP Barrett. “Canadians are lined up at food banks in record numbers, Canadians are struggling to keep the heat on in their homes, and while this is happening, while small businesses were closing, while businesses were struggling, there wasn’t a competition for these contracts. Your friend got a jammy $2,000 per hour gig and those cheques cleared.”.“If somebody stole from a small business you would expect an apology, you would expect a commitment not to do that again and you would probably in the case where it is possible expect the person to return what they stole,” said Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, ON). “Don’t you think that’s the same here?”.“I reject that premise,” replied Ng. “No one stole. What the Commissioner found here was I failed to recuse.”.Ng suggested public office holders should undergo more ethics training. “In the course of day-to-day work, at times you should be refreshed,” said Ng..“Are you suggesting you didn’t know this was going to be a conflict going into this, that you need training?” asked New Democrat MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, Ont.). “What I mean by training is we can improve,” replied Ng.
Trade Minister Mary Ng will not repay the cost of contracts improperly awarded to a personal friend and CBC pundit. According to Blacklock's Reporter, the payments for media coaching were the equivalent of more than $2,800 an hour..“I made a mistake,” Ng testified at the House of Commons ethics committee. Ng said she “put measures in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”.“Do you think taxpayers should be reimbursed?” asked Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville, Ont.). “I have already said I made an error,” replied Ng..The Ethics Commissioner last December 13 faulted Ng for what he called inexcusable breaches of the Conflict Of Interest Act. The minister awarded sole-sourced contracts worth $22,790 to Pomp & Circumstance Public Relations, a Toronto consulting firm run by longtime friend and CBC-TV Power & Politics commentator Amanda Alvaro..Ng said the payments were for two coaching sessions by Zoom on April 10 and May 3, 2020. Training time totaled about eight hours, the equivalent of $2,849 per hour..“You used your position to further the interests of your best friend to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars,” said MP Barrett. “Do you not think in this scenario that warrants that taxpayers are reimbursed? Do you think someone should pay the money back?”.“I want to be clear about what the issue is — ” replied Ng..“The issue is we have a Minister of the Crown who used her position to further the interest of her friend,” interrupted MP Barrett. “Canadians are lined up at food banks in record numbers, Canadians are struggling to keep the heat on in their homes, and while this is happening, while small businesses were closing, while businesses were struggling, there wasn’t a competition for these contracts. Your friend got a jammy $2,000 per hour gig and those cheques cleared.”.“If somebody stole from a small business you would expect an apology, you would expect a commitment not to do that again and you would probably in the case where it is possible expect the person to return what they stole,” said Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, ON). “Don’t you think that’s the same here?”.“I reject that premise,” replied Ng. “No one stole. What the Commissioner found here was I failed to recuse.”.Ng suggested public office holders should undergo more ethics training. “In the course of day-to-day work, at times you should be refreshed,” said Ng..“Are you suggesting you didn’t know this was going to be a conflict going into this, that you need training?” asked New Democrat MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, Ont.). “What I mean by training is we can improve,” replied Ng.
