Prince Edward Island Premier Wade MacLauchlan says he is willing to consider additional measures to increase accountability and transparency.John Morris/The Canadian Press
Prince Edward Island's new Liberal Premier is moving to strengthen his province's conflict-of-interest rules, saying he will extend the requirements that now govern cabinet ministers to deputy ministers and senior political staffers.
Premier Wade MacLauchlan's move followed an investigation by The Globe and Mail which revealed lax scrutiny of government officials, allowing them to invest in an online financial hub that, as only a few knew, was part of a planned eGaming operation.
The change, which comes amid opposition calls for a judicial inquiry into the gaming revelations, will mean that deputy ministers and senior staffers would also be subject to a six-month cooling-off period – for example, they could not be involved in lobbying – after leaving their government position. In addition, their investments and business involvements would be held in a blind trust while they served in their positions.
"I am looking to set a higher standard," Mr. MacLauchlan said in an interview, when asked if he was concerned by the revelations in The Globe on Saturday. "… I think we should have it all more clear and transparent, and that really people shouldn't be, when they are active in government, [making investments] directly through their own initiative."
His announcement comes as he is preparing to call an election in a matter of weeks. "Public servants, starting with the premier and cabinet, must be ethical in all that we do," he told senior public servants Monday. "Further, they must be perceived to be guided by and operate according to high ethical standards. This is a leading challenge for government, especially in the face of significant public skepticism."
The planned operation, which was to be located on aboriginal land to try to circumvent the Criminal Code, led to the first formal securities case in PEI's history. Very senior officials invested in the companies involved with the financial hub, including the conflict of interest commissioner; a lawyer who is a close friend of former premier Robert Ghiz and later advised on a phase of the deal; and the wife of Mr. Ghiz's chief of staff.
Mr. MacLauchlan's office is looking at conflict-of-interest practices in other provinces; he says he is willing to consider additional measures to increase accountability and transparency.
"I see this not as a new-sheriff-in-town thing, but as a way of putting these people who play an important role in government in the clear to do their jobs even more effectively," he said.
Mr. MacLauchlan has only been premier for a week, taking over from Mr. Ghiz, who surprised everyone by announcing his resignation in November just a day after his government delivered its Throne Speech.
PEI had a fixed election date of Oct. 5, 2015 – but Mr. MacLauchlan has said he will go to the polls in the spring. If his party is re-elected, the new conflict rules will take effect during the session immediately following the election.
NDP Leader Michael Redmond, however, is calling for a judicial inquiry into the planned gambling operation. He says that Mr. MacLauchlan's conflict-of-interest measures are "weak" and "after the fact." He characterized PEI as an "incestuous and backward province."
"It's to our detriment quite honestly," Mr. Redmond said. "We have a conflict-of-interest manager investing. Come on, guys. It's so disappointing that these are supposed to be our levels of oversight and [they are] actually complicit."
Mr. Redmond was referring to Ethics Commissioner Neil Robinson, who invested $15,000 in the company involved in the plan. Mr. Robinson was not involved in any of the negotiations and told The Globe that he asked if government was involved. He was assured that it was not and so he invested. If a complaint was raised, however, he said he would recuse himself.
Mr. MacLauchlan dismissed the idea of a judicial inquiry. "I think the media have done a very good job of this," he said. "We don't have to tie up all of our energies and resources in judicial inquiries. There are other ways to bring these things to light and to learn from them and to bring about reform and move forward."