Former premier Stefanson, cabinet ministers broke ethics law: investigation
An ethics investigation into allegations the former Tory government tried to get a controversial mining project approved after losing the 2023 election has concluded former premier Heather Stefanson and two of cabinet ministers violated the conflict law and should be fined thousands of dollars.
Ethics commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor's 100-page report says Stefanson did not stand to benefit financially from approval of the Sio Silica project, but her efforts to push for a licence to get it approved 'lacked ethical and constitutional legitimacy.' He has recommended she be fined $18,000.
Former Spruce Woods MLA Cliff Cullen should be fined $12,000 and current Red River North MLA Jeff Wharton should be fined $10,000, Schnoor wrote. Another sitting MLA, Derek Johnson (Interlake-Gimli), was not in breach of the act, Schnoor's report said.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
A new report from Manitoba's ethics commissioner recommends fines for former premier Heather Stefanson, former Spruce Woods MLA Cliff Cullen and current Red River North MLA Jeff Wharton.
The conflict of interest complaint was made by the governing NDP over a sand mine proposed by Sio Silica southeast of Winnipeg.
On Jan. 12, 2024, the NDP accused then-Tory leader Stefanson, Cullen, Wharton and Johnson of breaking conflict laws in an attempt to approve the proposed sand mine after the party had lost the Oct. 3, 2023 election and during the brief 'caretaker period' before the NDP government was sworn in.
While the proposed mine was never approved, questions were raised about whether there was an attempt to violate ethics rules and how new legislation that took effect after that election would be upheld.
The report concluded Stefanson and Cullen were aware that the incoming NDP government would've wanted to decide on whether or not to licence the project.
She and Cullen agreed to look for options to have the licence approved anyway, and involved Jeff Wharton.
'Their intention was clearly that he act on the option,' Schnoor's report said.
'Ms. Stefanson was aware of the caretaker convention and knew, or should have known, that the attempts to… approve the project licence were contrary to that convention (and) could have resulted in a decision with permanent and significant consequences,' the report said.
'More importantly, those efforts lacked ethical and constitutional legitimacy. I found her repeated dismissal of the caretaker convention in her written representations to me — a convention that is central to respect for the wishes of voters — to be disheartening.'
Hundreds of pages of documents, emails and text messages were reviewed and roughly 20 people were interviewed — in some cases twice, Schnoor said earlier.
The complaints were based on public statements made by former environment minister Kevin Klein and acting environment minister Rochelle Squires (who both lost their seats on Oct. 3). They claimed they had received separate calls from Wharton on Oct. 12, asking them to approve an environmental licence for the sand-extraction project.
Squires said the mining project was described by Wharton as being of significant importance to Stefanson, but because of a conflict, the former premier couldn't direct the approval herself.
Wharton, who was re-elected, has denied asking them to issue a licence to Sio Silica or telling anyone that Stefanson had a conflict of interest with the company.
Stefanson, through the PC caucus, has denied any conflict. In April 2024, she resigned her Tuxedo seat. After she left office, the NDP caucus asked Schnoor to continue his ethics investigation.
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Sio Silica CEO Feisal Somji has said the company did not ask the then-Tory government to approve the project after the election and before the NDP was sworn in.
New conflict of interest legislation — passed by the PCs in 2021 but not in force until Oct. 4, 2023 — gives the ethics commissioner extensive power to receive and investigate complaints from MLAs. Under the old legislation, the only way to hold an MLA to account was for a citizen to go to court.
Now, the ethics commissioner can recommend that the legislative assembly impose sanctions if an MLA has contravened the law, including: a reprimand; a fine of up to $50,000; suspension of a member's right to sit and vote in the assembly for a specified period or until a condition imposed by the commissioner is fulfilled; and declaring the member's seat vacant.
The new rules broaden the definition of a conflict, so 'a member is in a conflict of interest when the member exercises an official power, duty or function that provides an opportunity to further their private interests or those of their family or to improperly further another person's private interests.'
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol SandersLegislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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