Federal Ethics Commissioner Files Motion to Try to Stop Court Review of Her Ruling That Prime Minister and His Cabinet Are Not in a Conflict of Interest Over Mulroney-Schreiber Situation, But Rules Liberal MP is in a Conflict of Interest
OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch released its response to federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson's motion which she filed in the Federal Court of Appeal in April.. The motion is an attempt to stop a review by the Court of her ruling issued on January 7, 2008 which concluded that, even when the Prime Minister's and his Cabinet ministers' own actions and the actions of their close associate Brian Mulroney are in question, they are not covered by the Conflict of Interest Act and it is fine for them: to choose whether an inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber situation will take place; to set the scope of the inquiry; to choose the inquiry commissioner(s) who will judge them and Mr. Mulroney, and; to control the legal proceedings against Karlheinz Schreiber even though he made allegations about them.
Last week, Ethics Commissioner Dawson ruled that Liberal MP Robert Thibault is in a conflict of interest over the Mulroney-Schreiber situation because Mr. Mulroney had filed a lawsuit against him demanding Mr. Thibault pay more than $2 million for making libellous comments on TV about Mr. Mulroney. This is a legally correct ruling based on the rules in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (which came into force in October 2004) that say you can't take part in discussions or decisions on matters that affect your private financial interests. The ruling is a welcome change from the past ridiculous rulings of former Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson and former Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro, who almost always did everything they could to ignore ethics rules and let people off the hook even when they had clearly violated ethics rules.
Commissioner Dawson's ruling on Liberal MP Thibault highlights just how legally incorrect her ruling on Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet ministers is. Extraordinarily, Commissioner Dawson's motion claims that she did not even make a ruling concerning the Prime Minister and his Cabinet ministers, even though she sent the ruling in writing to Democracy Watch in response to the complaint it filed with her on November 26, 2007, and the ruling sets out 12 decisions that lead to Commissioner Dawson's overall conclusion that it was not within her jurisdiction to even investigate the Prime Minister and his Cabinet ministers, let alone find them in a conflict of interest with regard to the Mulroney Schreiber situation.
"It is unethical for the federal Ethics Commissioner to uphold or ignore ethics rules depending on whom the Commissioner's ruling affects, and very unfortunately this is what seems to have happened with the Commissioner's rulings that Liberal MP Thibault is in a conflict of interest concerning the Mulroney-Schreiber situation but Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet ministers are not," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. "Democracy Watch hopes the Federal Court of Appeal will reject the Ethics Commissioner's ruling and make it clear that federal politicians and government officials cannot discuss or make decisions about matters in which they, their relatives or friends have an interest."
Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper has acknowledged, and stated publicly, that he and all members of his government are in a conflict of interest concerning the Brian Mulroney-Karlheinz Schreiber situation, given that Mr. Mulroney acted until very recently as an adviser to the Prime Minister, Mr. Schreiber sent documents to the Prime Minister and named him in a court affidavit, and the government was involved in legal proceedings to extradite Mr. Schreiber to Germany. However, despite recognizing their own conflict of interest, Mr. Harper and his Cabinet continue to take part in and make decisions about the situation.
Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson's ruling ignored clear measures in the Conflict of Interest Act, well-established legal standards, and the public interest, in reaching the following legally incorrect conclusions, thereby letting Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet ministers and Cabinet staff off the hook:
TO SEE the list of decisions, and links to other key documents, go to:
http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/RelsMay2108.html
It should be noted that Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Justice by then-Prime Minister Mulroney in 1988, and was selected by Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet to be the Ethics Commissioner in spring 2007.
Democracy Watch is being represented on a pro-bono basis in the case by Yavar Hameed of the Ottawa law firm Hameed Farrokhzad St-Pierre. The Federal Court of Appeal case file number is A-174-08. The Ethics Commissioner's motion is expected to be ruled upon by the end of May.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
NEWS RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
See this news release with links to all key documents at:
http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/RelsMay2108.html
Democracy Watch
P.O. Box 821, Stn. B
Ottawa, Canada
K1P 5P9
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Fax: (613) 241-4758
Email: dwatch@web.net
Internet: http://www.dwatch.ca
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