A federal government department’s decision to join a biotechnology promotion and lobby group that lobbies the federal government has led to a complaint of conflict of interest to the ethics commissioner.
Industry Canada is a dues-paying member of Biotecanada, an Ottawa-based lobby for the industry.
Last week, a new group called the Government Ethics Coalition wrote to federal ethics commissioner Howard Wilson complaining about this.
“Here you have a department joining a lobby group which lobbies it,” said Duff Conacher of Ottawa-based Democracy Watch.
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The department insists its membership is a window on the industry and it has no role in lobbying itself.
The biotechnology lobby group says that as a promoter of the biotech industry, the government’s support of a promotional effort is entirely appropriate.
The department’s next membership renewal decision will come in December.
Angela Rickman, deputy director of the Sierra Club of Canada and a member of the ethics coalition, said the insider influence of business lobbyists must be exposed and reduced.
“The government’s membership in Biotecanada is another example of the insider access and influence enjoyed by corporate lobbyists,” she said.
In a formal letter of complaint Sept. 25 to ethics commissioner Wilson, Conacher said Industry Canada’s formal membership in a lobby group undermines the public office holders’ code, which says officials such as industry minister John Manley have an obligation to maintain “public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government.”
He suggested Biotecanada may be guilty of violating the lobbyists’ code by “proposing or undertaking any action that would constitute an improper influence on a public office holder.”
In an interview, Conacher said that in recent years, Biotecanada has received more than $5 million in Industry Canada support to promote the industry.
“I do not see how that cannot be a conflict for the minister,” he said.
Meanwhile, other departments including Natural Resources Canada have pulled out of memberships in a nuclear industry lobby group because of potential conflict of interest.
It is not the first time the government has been accused of being too cozy with the biotech industry. Agriculture Canada is viewed with suspicion by critics of genetically modified organisms because it promotes the industry, invests in GMO research and also helps regulate the products of GMO research.
But Conacher said the complaint to Wilson is not a political allegation of bias. It is a precise legal challenge of conflict of interest. Still, he figures the complaint will go nowhere because he sees the system itself as biased.
Contrary to his 1993 promise of an independent ethics counselor to deal with allegations of government impropriety, prime minister Jean ChrŽtien has created an ethics counselor dependent on him. Wilson reports to the prime minister, rather than Parliament.
“We are hoping this case highlights the bias of the system, as much as anything,” Conacher said. “We cannot have faith in the independent judgment of the ethics counselor. The prime minister has created a lapdog, not a watchdog.”
