The Ontario NDP will table legislation aimed at closing a loophole that allows family members of politicians to receive gifts from people attempting to influence government policy — bringing the province’s conflict of interest rules in line with its federal counterparts.
On Monday morning, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she planned to introduce legislation that she said would make the province’s conflict of interest rules stricter, particularly around gifts.
Stiles said she was calling for the new rules after Global News revealed earlier this year that several developers, considered to be “personal friends,” attended a stag and doe fundraising event for Premier Doug Ford’s daughter.
The event took place at the Ford family home in August, with several developers attending. The premier admitted to reporters at a press conference tickets cost $150.
“In my opinion, it’s absolutely ridiculous about a $150 stag. You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ford said at a news conference on Feb. 15.
The invitation, one source said at the time, came with a request to make a donation to the couple of up to $1,000 and seemed “very dodgy.” That information was never confirmed by Ford.
The premier’s office shared details of the event with the integrity commissioner’s office in a phone call after journalists began asking questions. Based on that information, Ontario’s integrity commissioner cleared Ford of wrongdoing.
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A later request, however, from Stiles to investigate is on pause by the integrity commissioner.
Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake said in a statement in March that while there were some “flaws” in a request from Stiles, he isn’t outright dismissing it — just pausing it — because there is overlap with a related investigation.
Channeling those investigations, Stiles said she would move to tighten Ontario’s conflict of interest rules.
She said that conflict of interest rules were about “avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest” as well as conflict of interests themselves.
“These are very simple rules,” Stiles said, saying she would table changes to make them “even clearer.”
She asked Ford if he supported “a prohibition on gifts that a reasonable person might think were given to influence an MPP or even a premier.”
The federal government’s conflict of interest rules say that neither an elected official nor their family should accept “any gift or other advantage … that might reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the public office holder in the exercise of an official power, duty or function.”
By contrast, Ontario’s current rules do not apply to family members.
The integrity commissioner recently wrote that the rule around gifts “applies only to the member who receives the gift.”
He said that it “does not apply to gifts received from third parties to an adult child of the member or her spouse.”
The Ford government’s house leader Paul Calandra responded to Stiles’ question and policy announcement by attacking the NDP’s record and pointing out the party had lost seats to the PCs at the last election.
When Stiles filed her complaint about the stag and doe in February, Calandra dismissed it as a “smear attack.”
“What the leader of the opposition is saying is she wants the premier of this province to ask his daughter to table in the legislature the guest list to their wedding,” Calandra said to applause from members of the Ontario PC caucus.
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