Nunavut MP followed ethics rules after interest in firm placed in trust, experts say

Nunavut Liberal MP Lori Idlout didn’t break any laws as she put her stake in Ottawa-based consulting company in a trust, but a democracy watchdog says she may have still acted unethically.

Idlout has a minority interest in NVision Insight Group Inc., an Ottawa-based consulting firm. Since September 2021, when Idlout was elected to the House of Commons, the company has received 19 contracts from various federal departments and agencies with a total combined value of more than $600,000. 

The MP resigned from the company’s board of directors in September 2021 and has not participated in any shareholder or board meetings or exercised any “direct or indirect” influence on the company, said Naomi Ratte, president of NVision Insight Group Inc. in a statement.

And, according to Idlout, she hasn’t received any income from the company since becoming an MP. 

Nevertheless, she fell under scrutiny after the federal Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner posted a notice that she put her interest into a trust on July 16. 

“Canadians are entitled to ask why it took years, rather than the moment she was elected as a Member of Parliament,” Conservative northern affairs critic Bob Zimmer said in a statement to CBC.

Under the ethics rules, MPs are prohibited from having an interest in private corporations that have contracts with the federal government. That is unless the federal ethics commissioner believes the interest is unlikely to affect the member’s obligations.

This is what happened in Idlout’s case. 

When Idlout was elected as an NDP MP in 2021, the commissioner advised her that her shares in the company could “remain held as they were,” Ratte said. 

Now, she says she put her interest into a trust to go “above and beyond” what the rules dictate.

Ratte said after Idlout crossed the floor to join the Liberals in March, the ethics commissioner reviewed the matter again and “advised that the shares be placed in a blind trust.”

Idlout broke no rules: political ethics expert

Idlout followed all the ethics rules dictated to her as a Member of Parliament, said Ian Stedman, associate professor of public law and governance at York University. 

“I don’t think she has taken a misstep, but I do think the opposition is always going to pick up every little ethics rock and throw it because it is politically expedient,” said Stedman. 

He said Idlout’s switch to the government party prompted more “caution” on part of the ethics commissioner. 

“I think the thinking must have been she will have more influence now and she will be more likely to be engaged in files relevant or related to her holdings,” Stedman said.

Federal ethics rules are a ‘loophole-filled sad joke’: Democracy Watch

Duff Conacher, co-founder of an ethics watchdog Democracy Watch, agrees Idlout didn’t break any rules in the NVision matter, but says the federal rules are a “loophole-filled sad joke” and are insufficient to prevent conflicts of interest.

Putting shares in a trust doesn’t prevent the holder to earn money from them in the future, he said.

“It’s really a sham façade, such a trust, because of course, she still knows she owns the interest,” Conacher said.

“And even if she’s not participating in the business, in the end, they could pay her after she leaves as an MP some amount — some slice of all these contracts that they’re continuing to win”

If it was up to Conacher, MPs like Idlout, who own stakes in companies who get government contracts, should not be able to discuss or vote on the federal budgets. He said it gives them the opportunity to influence the allocation of funds for their own benefit.