Liberal MP Greg Fergus Broke Ethics Rules With CRTC Letter, Commissioner Rules

Liberal MP Greg Fergus stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion says Liberal MP Greg Fergus breached the Conflict of Interest Act for writing to Canada’s broadcast regulator in support of a television channel’s application for mandatory carriage.

Furthermore, because of Fergus’ breach and a number of others that Dion says he has observed over the past several years, the ethics commissioner is advising that the federal government “consider mandating all ministers and parliamentary secretaries to receive training” from his office.

“Over the last five years and on several occasions, I have observed senior officials being unaware of their obligations and mistakenly making assumptions,” Dion’s office wrote on Feb. 14.

“Offers to provide training and educational sessions on a variety of topics have been offered to all federal parties and to regulatees, yet we continue to see a succession of mistakes that are largely attributable to the inability to recognize the need to seek consultation.”

Dion says he began examining Fergus’s case in October 2022 after receiving information about the Liberal MP’s letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Dion found that Fergus’s letter, written in support of Natyf Inc.’s broadcast license application, was “intended to influence a CRTC decision in order to further the private interests of Natyf Inc.”

The letter was submitted to the CRTC last year to encourage required distribution of Natyf TV, which serves a multicultural francophone audience, as part of digital basic services.

Fergus issued an apology on Feb. 14 for his conflict of interest violation, saying that it was an “unintentional error.”

“I will redouble my efforts to be more diligent in the future to ensure my obligations under the [Conflict of Interest] Act are fully met,” Fergus wrote in a statement, adding that he would “work closely” with Dion’s office to do so.

Conflict of Interest

Fergus, who is parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, signed the letter to the CRTC as an MP and not in his role as parliamentary secretary.

Dion said that his office “previously established that ministers and parliamentary secretaries should not write letters of support to quasi-judicial tribunals like the CRTC,” given their governmental roles and influence.

“Being dual-hatted does n​ot mean Mr. Fergus can circumvent the rules of the Act by simply wearing his MP hat to sign a letter of support to an administrative tribunal,” Dion said, adding that members of parliament can help their constituents “deal with an administrative tribunal in very limited instances.”

Fergus serves on both the House of Commons Standing Committee on Ethics and also the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

Given his past parliamentary roles, Dion said Fergus should’ve been aware of the federal conflict of interest laws that he contravened.

“I am quite concerned that someone with the breadth of experience of Mr. Fergus would fail to recognize the possibility of a contravention,” Dion said.

Dion’s report on Fergus’ breach of the Conflict of Interest Act comes two months after the ethics commissioner found that Trade Minister Mary Ng also violated the Act when her office previously awarded a contract to one of her friends.

Ng has since signed a “conflict of interest screen” to pledge that she will never again award a sole-sourced contract to the friend.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.