House committee changes rule to prevent MPs from hiring their in-laws

The House of Commons has banned MPs from using their parliamentary budgets to hire their in-laws.

The rule preventing MPs from hiring family members was expanded last Thursday to include in-laws by the House governance committee, the Board of Internal Economy. It follows reporting from The Globe and Mail in November that former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer employed his wife’s sister, an interior designer, from 2007 to 2020.

Mr. Scheer terminated her employment at his Regina constituency office after The Globe’s report. “I understand that in this case, following the rules may not have been enough,” he said in a statement at the time.

House Speaker Anthony Rota notified MPs about the rule change in an e-mail Friday. It said members of the committee “approved an amendment to the Members By-law to expand the definition of immediate family to include brothers- and sisters-in-law, grandparents, nephews and nieces as well as other persons in step or in-law relationships.”

Mr. Scheer, who was Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, oversaw the last rule change, when the Board of Internal Economy stopped MPs from hiring their siblings, but put no limits on employing their in-laws.

Until the ban on hiring siblings took effect in 2012, Mr. Scheer also employed his sister, from 2008 to 2012.

Mr. Rota’s e-mail to MPs last week said while the change would take immediate effect, MPs can take up to one year to “bring their current employment relationships and other non-employment contracts into compliance with the Members By-law, as amended.

“Members who are unable to do so within one year must consult with the House Administration and seek an exception from the Board,” he said.

The changes are being made by amending the definition of immediate family and will have a knock-on effect for other rules governing MPs, according to the e-mail. The limits on how MPs can use their public office also prevents them from paying immediate family members for rented accommodations and giving them contracts for professional services.

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