Parliamentary ethics and conflict of interest commissioner Mary Dawson has ruled that prairie Conservative MPs with grain farming interests can vote on legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.
Winnipeg New Democrat Pat Martin argued earlier this week that as many as nine Conservative MPs with grain farms or an interest in a family grain farm are in conflict of interest if they vote on Bill C-18 and should be forced to not vote.
If they believe Conservative claims that farmers will be better off without the CWB single desk, then they are voting for their own economic interest and MP conflict rules say that is not allowed, Martin argued.
Both Liberals and New Democrats sent the issue to Dawson’s office.
She has ruled that because it is a general benefit and not specific to their farms, they are exempt from the conflict-of-interest rule.
“It is my understanding that there are some 70,000 grain farmers in Western Canada,” Dawson wrote in her judgment. “Although Members who are grain farmers will have an interest in the subject matter of Bill C-18, it is an interest that is shared with a broad segment of the public and therefore falls within the exclusions …. It is my opinion that all Members who are grain farmers need not, therefore, withdraw from debates or votes related to Bill C-18.”
Martin was not impressed.
“I am disappointed and dismayed by the ethics commissioner’s interpretation of the conflict of interest code,” he said. “I thought it couldn’t be more straightforward. If you are going to personally profit from the legislative action, then you shouldn’t participate in the debate or the vote.”
The exemption is only for matters with broad application like the Goods and Services Tax, he said.
“We’re talking about 0.2 percent of the population which constitutes people who grow board grain so I don’t understand her interpretation and I think she lets us down in her application of the conflict of interest code.”
