PPAL 6120 Ethics, Privacy and Access to Information March 18, 2009 Ian Greene

Case studies of typical ethics dilemmas facing public servants & their resolution  Readings: Greene and Shugarman, Ch 7: David Shugarman (guest) and Yousef Salama Kernaghan & Langford, Ch 4-6: Radcliffe Rose Greene & Shugarman, Ch 3: Angela Lamers Excerpts from Maureen Mancuso, Michael Atkinson, André Blais, Ian Greene and Neil Nevitte. A Question of Ethics: Canadians Speak Out About Their Politicians. Oxford University Press Canada, 1998; Second Edition, 2006 (distributed in class): Judy Ash

Conflict of interest Occurs when a public official is in a position to use his or her public office to gain personal benefits or benefits for his or her family or party that are not available to the general public.

Hierarchy of coi violations COIs that involve a financial benefit A a real conflict of interest with no financial benefits Failure to follow the rules designed to prevent conflicts of interest Apparent conflicts of interest A potential conflict of interest is not “wrong” unless one fails to take appropriate action so that it becomes a “real” conflict of interest

Update 2005: Independent ethics commissioner appointed for House of Commons and Cabinet – Bernard Shapiro 2006: Ethics Officer appointed for the Senate

Appointment of independent ethics commissioners Ontario 1988 British Columbia 1990 Nova Scotia 1991 (designated judge) Alberta 1992 Newfd/Lab 1993 Saskatchewan 1994 NWT 1998 PEI 1999 New Brunswick 2000 Nunavut 2000 Manitoba 2002 Yukon 2002 Quebec 2002 (jurisconsult) House of Commons 2004 Senate 2005

Conflict of Interest Events Index Pre- and Post-Commissioner Total number of substantiated “events”

Issues Should spouses and dependent children be included? Can the ethics rules be improved without the impetus of a scandal? Can a blind trust ever be blind? Is there really such a thing as an apparent conflict of interest?