NDP decision to block bill leaves errors in place: commissioner

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This article was published 18/04/2023 (912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP’s decision to block amendments to the new conflict of interest law, which will take effect after the October election, will prevent the public from knowing when MLAs have received certain gifts and personal benefits.

Conflict of interest commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor said Tuesday that Bill 20 (Conflict of Interest, Members and Ministers, Amendment Act) was introduced by the Tory government this spring at his request. It would fix “several drafting errors” that he found while preparing for the new legislation.

For example, the law left out two situations in which the commissioner would publicly report when an MLA is not in compliance with the act: failure to disclose a gift or personal benefit within the specified time, and failure to disclose private air travel within the specified time. If passed into law, Bill 20 would’ve corrected the omissions.

“Until that error is fixed, members will be required to report certain gifts to the ethics commissioner, but the commissioner will not be able to post those gift reports for the public to see unless the member consents. That consent is not needed for other disclosures in the new act.”

The incoming law also requires the commissioner to destroy certain records that have been posted on the commissioner’s website.

When the NDP announced Sunday it would delay Bill 20, it argued the proposed legislation would create a loophole for politicians — including Premier Heather Stefanson — to hide their wealth in a blind trust and not be required to disclose their securities or investments.

The party said it would block the bill to draw attention to the Progressive Conservatives’ incoming law. It will allow MLAs to avoid disclosure by placing certain assets in a blind trust that has been approved by the conflict of interest commissioner, the NDP said.

Schnoor explained the law’s rationale for putting assets in a blind trust and avoiding a potential conflict of interest.

“Those assets, then, are not reported by the member in their disclosure statement precisely because the trust is blind,” said Schnoor, who is responsible for administering the act. “That is, once placed in the trust, the member has no control over those assets and doesn’t even know if they’re still there; trustees are free to manage them, or sell them, as they see fit.”

Further, Bill 20 would have closed a gap related to disclosure on blind trusts, Schnoor said.

On Tuesday, when asked about Schnoor’s concerns, the NDP defended its decision to delay Bill 20 — one of five bills the Opposition is allowed to delay each legislative session.

“The premier holds millions of dollars in investments that are already shielded from public view and Bill 20 would have made it even harder for Manitobans to know about the existence of investments,” NDP finance critic Adrien Sala said in an email. “We’re on the side of an open and transparent government, every time.”

The goal is to score political points with their base, said University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas.

“The publicity involved with the delay of Bill 20 allows the NDP to reinforce one of their main campaign messages — that premier Stefanson is a wealthy person who is out of touch with the concerns and needs of most voters,” Thomas said.

“Portraying her as trying to bypass the conflict of interest rules is intended to solidify the criticism that she sees herself as above the law,” he said, referring to Stefanson, who violated conflict of interest rules when she failed to disclose the sale of three properties, worth more than $31 million, in 2016 and 2019.

“These charges may or may not be fair, but they can work politically, especially for the NDP base,” Thomas said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca