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David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos@Kathryn98967631 and 49 others
Methinks its incredibly ironic that the former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes is in a conflict of interest with me N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/02/new-brunswicks-secret-conflict-regime.html
#nbpoli#cdnpoli
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-secret-conflict-regime-1.5034474
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Rod McLeod
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There's no way for the public to know if deputy ministers, Crown corporation CEOs or executive assistants to ministers were ever in conflict, unless a complaint is filed in court. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
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David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos@Kathryn98967631 and 49 others
Methinks its incredibly ironic that the former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes is in a conflict of interest with me N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/02/new-brunswicks-secret-conflict-regime.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-secret-conflict-regime-1.5034474
New Brunswick's secret conflict regime for unelected officials
Comments
David Amos
Methinks it incredibly ironic that the former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes is in a conflict of interest with me N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Methinks folks should checkout my lawsuit about being illegally barred from legislative properties while running for public office now many years later NB Power used that malicious nonsense to prevent me from being an intervener in EUB Hearings in which the politician I ran against was appointed to sit on the the board Seems that I should sue the Crown again N'esy Pas?
Marc LeBlanc
The patronage pipeline.It's been around for decades.
David Amos
@Marc LeBlanc Its as old as peoplekind
Richard Cyr
You could have sent an e-mail to Murray Brewster rather than write this. He's your #1 culprit.
The man is on his 3rd or 4th article about the Vets Affairs tax debacle and still hasn't mentioned anyone involved. That's extremely poor journalism.
The man is on his 3rd or 4th article about the Vets Affairs tax debacle and still hasn't mentioned anyone involved. That's extremely poor journalism.
David Amos
@Richard Cyr Methinks your #1 culprit is Trudeau The Younger At least nobody can deny that his former Attorney General is gonna speak her truth today (Yea Right) while Trump's former White House Counsel yaps it up in Congress before he goes to jail
Truth is stranger than fiction N'esy Pas?
Truth is stranger than fiction N'esy Pas?
Joseph Vacher
Francophone Games
David Amos
@Joseph Vacher NB Power
Rosco holt
@Joseph Vacher
Forestry
Forestry
Rosco holt
It's the way for politicians/ parties to get away we most backroom scams..... er, schemes.
David Amos
@Rosco holt YUP
Mac Pitt
NB Government should listen to what Alexandre Deschênes has said, this guy knows what he is talking about.
David Amos
@Mac Pitt Methinks all the politicians know that the lawyers Alexandre Deschêne and the interim integrity commissioner Charles Murray know more than folks think they do. However they are never gonna blow the whistle on their own severe lack of integrity N'esy Pas?
kelly sherrard
This province is so out of control. We have gotten so used to gov't offices running poorly that we no longer are surprised when something explodes and the garbage leaks out. We continue to have gov'ts that fail to have a mandate to clean up gov't and get rid of the dead wood that is at ground zero of many issues. if anyone tried to clean it up, people would turn on them because people in gov't work to protect themselves and their friends against being fired. The problem lies with upper management ... it needs to be cleaned out.... a major purge. Bullying is a major factor.
David Amos
@kelly sherrard What can anyone do when apathy rules the day?
Rod McLeod
Good call. Too many policies and decisions are set by unelected individuals. The elected people are just the couriers delivering the news to the public and then taking the heat when things don't work out.
David Amos
@Rod McLeod Close but no cigar
New Brunswick's secret conflict regime for unelected officials
No way for public to know if non-elected officials ever in conflict, unless complaint filed in court
New Brunswick's most powerful non-elected government officials are subject to conflict-of-interest rules that are weak, outdated and shrouded in secrecy.
Deputy ministers, Crown corporation CEOs and executive assistants to ministers are required to file conflict declarations--but those documents remain confidential, unlike those filed by MLAs.
That means there's no way for the public to know if any non-elected official was ever in a conflict, unless a complaint is filed in court.
And its list of Crown corporations is also out of date, meaning the CEOs of Opportunities New Brunswick, Cannabis NB and Service New Brunswick, among others, are not subject to its requirements.
Former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes said in his final report before his retirement that the government should amend the law.
He said non-elected officials should be under the same regime as MLAs, who report to the commissioner.
"My view is, and I've made that view known for some time, is that system ought to be abandoned as soon as possible," he told CBC News in a recent interview.
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Former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes said non-elected officials should be under the same regime as MLAs. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) "The system just doesn't work."
One of Deschênes's predecessors as conflict commissioner, Patrick Ryan, repeatedly levelled the same criticism during his tenure as commissioner.
"Alex is absolutely correct," Ryan said in a brief interview. "It bugged me."
David Ferguson, a retired clerk of the executive council--the top civil service position in the province--called it "bizarre" that there is no penalty for not filing a conflict declaration.
"If you ignore it, you get away scot-free, which seems to be a real problem with the act," he said.
Government spokesperson Tyler Campbell said the province is reviewing the act and is looking at all the issues that have been raised.
"That work is currently underway," he said.
He said some of the Crown corporations not covered by the act have their own conflict policies, but the province will look at having the same rules apply to all of them.
But a separate law, the Conflict of Interest Act, applies to senior non-elected officials. They file their disclosures not to the commissioner, but to a sitting judge designated by the government.
There's no requirement that their declarations become public.
Deschênes says involving a sitting judge compromises the independence of the judiciary because the judge must interact with civil servants and, in some cases, help them prepare blind trusts for investments.
"I have difficulty making it compatible with an independent judiciary," he said.
The current designated judge, Justice Barbara Baird of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, did not respond to a request for information on the declarations she has reviewed.
On Jan. 28, CBC News sent Baird a list of questions on how many officials are subject to the act now, how many disclosures she has received from them, how many inquires she has conducted and how many breaches she has found and how many orders she has issued.
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The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick is the highest court in the province and generally sits in Fredericton. (CBC) As of Tuesday, Baird had not answered or even acknowledged the questions. The law does not require her to release any information to the public.
Ferguson wouldn't say whether the declarations should be public, but he said it's "important at some point that there's something on the record that says, 'here's a list of everyone who filed and these have been done.'
"As opposed to how it's up in the air right now: if someone doesn't file, who knows? Who doesn't know? Who follows it up? No one follows it up, apparently."
As clerk of the executive council, Ferguson said he depended on the act to deal with potential conflicts among his fellow deputy ministers.
Most deputy ministers are career civil servants with no history of business investments, Ferguson said, but there's been a trend in recent years to recruit from the private sector.
"There perhaps may be more possibilities of a conflict of interest arising because of that.
Deschênes says the designated judge system is so awkward that most judges want to avoid the role.
"I was a judge for more than 30 years and I know as a fact that there's no appetite on the part of the judiciary to perform those tasks," he said.
Two Court of Queen's Bench judges who held the position "basically resigned" because they found the legislation and the role problematic, Deschênes said.
One of them, Jean-Paul Ouellette, made his complaints public in a 2014 ruling on a ministerial assistant who violated the act by not filing a new declaration.
Jimmy Bourque, an executive assistant to a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, was the owner of a company in a blind trust that received almost half a million dollars in government contracts.
Ouellette ruled that Bourque's failure to file a disclosure violated the act, but in his ruling he complained that no one compiles a definitive list of the deputy ministers, Crown CEOs and executive assistants subject to the act.
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The law's list of Crown corporations is also out of date, meaning CEOs of newer Crown corporations such as Cannabis NB, aren't subject to its requirements. (Julia Wright / CBC) "I do not have any information on or list of individuals … who are required to disclose," he wrote. "No one compiles such a list, and there is no process for informing the individuals in question that they have breached the disclosure provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act."
Ferguson agreed that there should be "administrative support" so that the designated judge always has an up-to-date list of who the act applies to.
Ouellette also complained that the act doesn't allow the designated judge to track who is not complying with the law and doesn't include any sanctions--meaning he wasn't able to punish Bourque for the violation.
"Such is the Act," the judge wrote in his ruling.
The regulation accompanying the act lists eight Crown corporations whose CEOs are subject to the law, including New Brunswick Liquor, NB Power, and the Regional Development Corporation.
Two on the list no longer exist, and 13 other Crown corporations that operate now are not listed in the regulation.
Deputy ministers, Crown corporation CEOs and executive assistants to ministers are required to file conflict declarations--but those documents remain confidential, unlike those filed by MLAs.
That means there's no way for the public to know if any non-elected official was ever in a conflict, unless a complaint is filed in court.
The law also includes no penalties for officials who don't file declarations, and isn't even clear about who it covers, according to a 2014 ruling by a Court of Queen's Bench judge who oversaw the act at the time.
And its list of Crown corporations is also out of date, meaning the CEOs of Opportunities New Brunswick, Cannabis NB and Service New Brunswick, among others, are not subject to its requirements.
Amend law, says former integrity commissioner
Former integrity commissioner Alexandre Deschênes said in his final report before his retirement that the government should amend the law.
He said non-elected officials should be under the same regime as MLAs, who report to the commissioner.
"My view is, and I've made that view known for some time, is that system ought to be abandoned as soon as possible," he told CBC News in a recent interview.
One of Deschênes's predecessors as conflict commissioner, Patrick Ryan, repeatedly levelled the same criticism during his tenure as commissioner.
"Alex is absolutely correct," Ryan said in a brief interview. "It bugged me."
David Ferguson, a retired clerk of the executive council--the top civil service position in the province--called it "bizarre" that there is no penalty for not filing a conflict declaration.
"If you ignore it, you get away scot-free, which seems to be a real problem with the act," he said.
Province reviewing act
Government spokesperson Tyler Campbell said the province is reviewing the act and is looking at all the issues that have been raised.
"That work is currently underway," he said.
He said some of the Crown corporations not covered by the act have their own conflict policies, but the province will look at having the same rules apply to all of them.
Who knows? Who doesn't know? Who follows it up? No one follows it up, apparently.- David Ferguson, retired clerk of the executive councilUnder the Members' Conflict of Interest Act, MLAs file annual disclosure statements to the integrity commissioner, revealing their investments, assets, business interests and loans. An abridged version is made public.
But a separate law, the Conflict of Interest Act, applies to senior non-elected officials. They file their disclosures not to the commissioner, but to a sitting judge designated by the government.
There's no requirement that their declarations become public.
Deschênes says involving a sitting judge compromises the independence of the judiciary because the judge must interact with civil servants and, in some cases, help them prepare blind trusts for investments.
"I have difficulty making it compatible with an independent judiciary," he said.
Judge mum on declarations
The current designated judge, Justice Barbara Baird of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, did not respond to a request for information on the declarations she has reviewed.
On Jan. 28, CBC News sent Baird a list of questions on how many officials are subject to the act now, how many disclosures she has received from them, how many inquires she has conducted and how many breaches she has found and how many orders she has issued.
Ferguson wouldn't say whether the declarations should be public, but he said it's "important at some point that there's something on the record that says, 'here's a list of everyone who filed and these have been done.'
"As opposed to how it's up in the air right now: if someone doesn't file, who knows? Who doesn't know? Who follows it up? No one follows it up, apparently."
As clerk of the executive council, Ferguson said he depended on the act to deal with potential conflicts among his fellow deputy ministers.
"I didn't particularly need to know or want to know what the personal business of one of my colleagues was," he said. "I assumed the conflict of interest declaration had been filed, and any issue that had been addressed by the judge was a private matter."
Most deputy ministers are career civil servants with no history of business investments, Ferguson said, but there's been a trend in recent years to recruit from the private sector.
"There perhaps may be more possibilities of a conflict of interest arising because of that.
Deschênes says the designated judge system is so awkward that most judges want to avoid the role.
"I was a judge for more than 30 years and I know as a fact that there's no appetite on the part of the judiciary to perform those tasks," he said.
Judge role problematic
Two Court of Queen's Bench judges who held the position "basically resigned" because they found the legislation and the role problematic, Deschênes said.
One of them, Jean-Paul Ouellette, made his complaints public in a 2014 ruling on a ministerial assistant who violated the act by not filing a new declaration.
Jimmy Bourque, an executive assistant to a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, was the owner of a company in a blind trust that received almost half a million dollars in government contracts.
Ouellette ruled that Bourque's failure to file a disclosure violated the act, but in his ruling he complained that no one compiles a definitive list of the deputy ministers, Crown CEOs and executive assistants subject to the act.
Ferguson agreed that there should be "administrative support" so that the designated judge always has an up-to-date list of who the act applies to.
Ouellette also complained that the act doesn't allow the designated judge to track who is not complying with the law and doesn't include any sanctions--meaning he wasn't able to punish Bourque for the violation.
"Such is the Act," the judge wrote in his ruling.
The regulation accompanying the act lists eight Crown corporations whose CEOs are subject to the law, including New Brunswick Liquor, NB Power, and the Regional Development Corporation.
Two on the list no longer exist, and 13 other Crown corporations that operate now are not listed in the regulation.
