As a federal election campaign looms, Canadians must demand stronger ethics laws from politicians

Canadian politics is at a crossroads. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in 2015, his open letter to Canadians promised them accountability and transparency. As Trudeau’s time as prime minister seems to be winding down, however, his government has been subject to nearly two dozen conflict-of-interest investigations, with Trudeau himself even violating conflict laws.

Partisan vitriol, electioneering and political brinkmanship are ramping up, with pressing issues like inflation, crime, climate action and housing set to dominate the political news cycle. What must not get lost amid these policy concerns is the urgent need to strengthen Canada’s governmental ethics and accountability laws, especially given the growing Canadian distrust in politicians.

That includes distrust of those in the current government. A 2023 poll found that two-thirds of 1,632 respondents don’t trust the Trudeau government, with only about a third expressing confidence in the Prime Minister’s Office and less than half trusting the House of Commons.

The prime minister’s high-profile conflict-of-interest violations highlight the inadequacy of accountability measures. They illustrate that federal ethics laws need reform, particularly the Conflict of Interest Act that applies to public office holders (the Conflict of Interest Code applies to MPs in their role as MPs while the act applies to MPs in their role as ministers or parliamentary secretaries).

As researchers who focus on the laws of public sector ethics and accountability, we believe ethics issues must be kept in public view and political parties should be pressured to offer meaningful reform ideas in their campaign and party platforms.

Trudeau’s conflict violations

Trudeau first breached conflict-of-interest laws in late 2016 and early 2017, when he vacationed with his family on the private Caribbean island of the Aga Khan, a spiritual leader whose foundation is registered to lobby and has received money from the government.

The prime minister accepted private helicopter travel and other gifts, violating multiple sections of the Conflict of Interest Act.

Mary Dawson, the ethics commissioner at the time, found that Trudeau had failed to avoid a conflict or to seek advice from her office before accepting the trip. Despite these conclusions, Trudeau faced no formal punishment.

Trudeau’s second violation was revealed in 2019 amid the SNC-Lavalin affair. In a nutshell, the prime minister attempted to pressure then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in a criminal prosecution against the engineering firm, which has its head offices in the same province as Trudeau’s electoral riding.

The ethics commissioner concluded that Trudeau used his position in an attempt to improperly serve SNC-Lavalin’s interests, breaching provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act. While this scandal rocked the Liberals, Trudeau again faced no real consequences for his actions apart from some ministerial resignations and possibly a failure to gain more Liberal seats in the October 2019 election.

These incidents have helped foster an environment where conflict-of-interest violations have become normalized. Former ministers Bill Morneau and Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal House Speaker Greg Fergus, current ministers Mary Ng and Randy Boissonnault, along with various government appointees, have all been caught in ethics scandals.

No consequences

Regardless of which party holds power, a striking flaw in Canada’s political ethics framework is the lack of clear consequences for violating the Conflict of Interest Act. While ethics commissioners have the authority to investigate and report on violations, their reports are published online and submitted to the prime minister, who then decides whether any consequences will apply.

Any penalties the commissioner can impose are laughably small, with administrative monetary penalties of no more than a paltry $500 for failing to meet reporting requirements.

This critical gap places the responsibility for imposing consequences under the act on the person who may have been the one to violate the rules, which is sometimes the leader of the government.

The prime minister decides on the punishment, even if the investigation concerns a cabinet member. This raises concerns about impartiality. Is there any incentive for the prime minister to actually hold colleagues accountable when they violate conflict-of-interest laws?

And what message does it send to an already distrustful electorate when the prime minister and his inner circle can repeatedly violate conflict laws, then determine whether they should face consequences for their actions?

Ongoing ethics concerns

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who was tenacious in 2020 when grilling the prime minister over conflict-of-interest concerns during the WE Charity scandal, seems determined to continue challenging the Liberals on their ethics record.

Poilievre’s Conservatives recently raised concerns over the controversial appointment of Mark Carney as a special adviser to the Liberal Party. Being appointed to a party position instead of a government job allows Carney to avoid the ethics commissioner’s scrutiny of his private interests yet still advise government officials.

Poilievre’s Conservatives recently raised concerns over the controversial appointment of Mark Carney as a special adviser to the Liberal Party. Being appointed to a party position instead of a government job allows Carney to avoid the ethics commissioner’s scrutiny of his private interests yet still advise government officials.

Additionally, accusations that the Liberals mismanaged the Sustainable Development Technology Canada fund and used it as a “slush fund” for party insiders recently caused Parliament to grind to a halt. The government has refused to provide information on how the fund was managed.

At the same time, allegations that Trudeau has avoided taking responsibility for foreign interference in Canada’s elections have provided the opposition with further ethics ethics ammunition for an election campaign looming on the horizon.

Given Trudeau’s poor polling numbers, recent reports about Liberal MPs calling for him to step down and the imminence of yet another cabinet shuffle, government ethics and accountability must take centre stage if the country is to rebuild Canadian trust in government. Updating the Conflict of Interest Act would be a strong and necessary starting point.

Ethics aren’t a luxury

Since the Conflict of Interest Act cannot be updated without the involvement of legislators, a cynical observer might wonder how ethics standards can be strengthened.

One answer is that the Conservatives’ relentless push for an election gives the public a perfect opportunity to demand that proposals to improve conflict-of-interest laws are part of the campaign platforms of all parties.

This is exactly what happened in 2006 when Stephen Harper led the Conservatives to victory by pledging a more ethical and accountable Ottawa, although his government ultimately faced its own share of scandals.

Ethical lapses in leadership must not be treated as secondary to pressing economic and social issues. Having a government that continuously strengthens and upholds its ethical standards should not be considered a luxury.

Strong ethical governance is needed to restore and maintain public trust and to ensure our elected officials are working hard on behalf of Canadians — not in their own self-interest.

By Associate Professor Ian Stedman, Canadian Public Law & Governance, York University, and Matthew Cerilli, master's student, political science, McMaster University.

This article is republished from The Conversation Canada.