For these reasons, GRIC recommended to this committee last year that the Commissioner of Lobbying's standard for determining whether a lobbyist has placed a public office holder in a conflict of interest be consistent with Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner's standard for determining whether a public office holder has been placed in a conflict of interest by a lobbyist. The standard should be the same under both acts, whether the test is for “real”, “apparent” or “potential” conflicts of interest. No one should ever be found to have placed a public office holder in a conflict of interest that the public office holder was never in.
Our second recommendation pertains to what types of gifts a lobbyist can offer a public office holder. The Conflict of Interest Act defines “gift or other advantage” in subsection 2(1) as the following:
(a) an amount of money if there is no obligation to repay it; and
(b) a service or property, or the use of property or money that is provided without charge or at less than its commercial value.
The act further states that:
No public office holder or member of his or her family shall accept any gift or other advantage, including from a trust, that might reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the public office holder in the exercise of an official power, duty or function.
The act further requires disclosure of any gifts or gifts exceeding $200 from any one source in a 12-month period and gifts over $1,000 are to be forfeited to the crown.
As you know, in its guidelines on gifts, including invitations, fundraisers and business lunches, the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner has noted that it interprets the definition of gifts to include such things as money, loans, property, memberships, services, meals, invitations to events, and invitations to galas and fundraisers. The guideline document goes on to explain that “no specific rule exists as to which gifts can be accepted by public office holders. The value of a gift is NOT a criterion of acceptability; it is a threshold for the purpose of disclosure to the Office and the public.”