PARLIAMENT HILL—Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Labour Minister Lisa Raitt may be contravening the Conflict of Interest Act and a conduct code for MPs because of their role in a private Parliament Hill reception for an exclusive Conservative-connected Toronto club that includes four federal lobbyists on its board of directors, a federal lobbying watchdog and opposition MPs say.Ms. Raitt (Halton, Ont.), two prominent Conservative Senators and two high-profile Conservative MPs are hosting the Dec. 1 reception in the Centre Block for directors of the high-end Albany Club, founded by members of the Conservative Party in 1882, who want to promote the club and drum up memberships among Tory Senators and MPs by featuring Mr. Clement (Parry Sound-Musoka, Ont.) as the “special guest” for the elite gathering.
But Duff Conacher, founding director of Democracy Watch, and Liberal and NDP MPs told The Hill Times Monday that the presence of registered federal lobbyists on the Albany Club’s board, including two who are registered to lobby cabinet’s Treasury Board or its public-service Secretariat, and several who are registered to lobby the Conservative MPs and Senators who will be entertained at the reception, puts Mr. Clement and the MPs and Senators who organized the gathering in a position that could conflict with provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act and conduct rules for MPs.
Mr. Conacher, in an email to The Hill Times, pointed to former federal Conservative candidate John Capobianco, a vice-president of Fleishmann-Hillard Canada, who recently registered to lobby the Treasury Board on behalf of an anti-tobacco action group and a northern Ontario Ojibway First Nation, but who is also registered to lobby MPs and Senators, the Prime Minister’s Office, Health Canada and Industry Canada for an association representing medical supply firms and to lobby Health Canada and MPs for a medical technology firm.
To complicate the potential conflict regarding Mr. Clement, he is listed as a fellow director of the Albany club, along with Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.), Conservative MP Stella Ambler (Mississauga South, Ont.), a former political director for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) and Mr. Capobianco and the other lobbyists.
Mr. Capobianco, who told The Hill Times he is careful not to mix his private associations with Mr. Clement or any other ministers with his role as a lobbyist, said Mr. Clement is an honorary member of the club’s board and has never attended a board meeting.
“I have not lobbied him,” said Mr. Capobianco, who ran unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party in two past federal elections, the last time in 2006 when he lost to then Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont. He said his two registrations to lobby Treasury Board were filed only a week ago.
“I am extremely careful about my work, and following the rules,” Mr. Capobianco said, pointing out he is currently president of the Public Affairs Association of Canada.
Another member of the Albany Club’s board, who is an officer of the board and chair of its membership committee, is lobbyist Scott Munnoch, once a member of Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney’s PMO and a backroomer as well with Ontario provincial Conservatives.
Mr. Munnoch, a lobbyist with Temple Scott Associates Inc., is registered with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada to lobby MPs and Senators for MasterCard Canada and Emirates Airline, as well as for lobbying activities on behalf of the Motorcylists Federation of Canada, the Canadian Dental Association and Miziwe Biik Development Corp.
Another Albany Club board member, Ian Anderson, is registered to lobby MPs and the Treasury Board Secretariat, among other government departments, on behalf of Citibank Canada. Mr. Anderson, president of Temple Scott and a former deputy principal secretary to Mr. Mulroney, is also registered to lobby for Emirates Airline, and Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. Another director, Linda Franklin, is registered as an in-house lobbyist with Colleges Ontario.
Opposition MPs said Mr. Clement’s position as Treasury Board president, responsible for finding $4-billion worth of savings in public service spending over the next year, puts him in a conflicting position, or at least the appearance of one, with regard to his role as “special guest” at the Albany Club reception in a private and historic Senate committee room on Parliament Hill. Ms. Raitt is a member of the Treasury Board sub-committee that Mr. Clement is overseeing to identify the cuts.
Mr. Clement’s role is particularly sensitive since the lobbyists on the Albany Club board are registered to lobby MPs and senators on a range of interests. The invitation the Conservative MPs and Senators distributed through Parliament’s intranet email system went to all Conservative MPs and Senators.
Last June, Mr. Clement was the feature speaker at an Ontario provincial election campaign fundraiser held at the Albany Club—a $500-a-ticket event to raise money for Conservative candidate Kevin Gaudet, the former head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation who later lost his election bid.
Mr. Clement attempted to laugh off questions in the Commons Monday about his potential conflict, telling MPs that prominent NDP leadership candidate Brian Topp has booked space at the Albany Club to raise money for his leadership campaign.
“I would like to do a bit of an advertisement for the NDP,” Mr. Clement said in response to a question from NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Que.). “Apparently there is an NDP fundraiser for one of its leadership candidates, [Brian] Topp, at the Albany Club. I suppose it’s okay for New Democrats to use the Albany Club, but not for us.”
Mr. Clement said he would nonetheless be “happy” to refer the questions about his role in the reception and the club to federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.
Liberal MP Marc Garneau (Westmount-Ville Marie, Que.) told The Hill Times the appearance of a conflict in the case of Mr. Clement and Ms. Raitt is as important to avoid as an actual conflict.
“There’s two things, one is you have to respect the rules with respect to conflict of interest, but the other part of it is you should also be perceived to be using the highest standards to avoid any possibility, even though you may not be violating it by the letter of the law,” said Mr. Garneau.
NDP MP Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore, N.S.) said Mr. Clement’s involvement “doesn’t pass the smell test.”
“You’ve got two guys, one is a Cabinet minister and the president of Treasury Board, who is a director of this [Albany Club] board,” said Mr. Stoffer. “You’ve got another fellow, a defeated candidate in the Conservative Party who is also a director on the board, but he’s also a registered lobbyist to lobby the Treasury Board, and who is the Treasury Board president? Mr. Clement.”
The Conservative MPs and Senators who put their names on the invitation along with Ms. Raitt were Senators Hugh Segal and Consiglio Di Nino and MPs Chris Alexander (Ajax-Pickering, Ont.) and Kellie Leitch (Simcoe-Grey, Ont.)
Origin
Source: Hill Times
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