Thank you for inviting me here today.
In my opening statement, I'll provide you with a brief overview of certain features of the Members' Integrity Act, which is the Ontario legislation that sets out the ethical obligations for members of provincial Parliament. I will also comment briefly on some of the issues this committee will be considering in its review of the conflict of interest code. That said, I believe I can best assist you by allowing members to ask me questions and providing Ontario's experience on the topics that are of interest to the committee.
First, I thought I should clarify that in Ontario, the Integrity Commissioner has the mandates and authority of three federal independent officers, including the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, the Commissioner of Lobbying and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. I'm also the ethics executive for ministers' staff, as well as for the secretary of the cabinet. Having these multiple roles can be beneficial, because it provides me with an understanding of the ethical issues that elected officials face, as well as the ability to address them in other ways. For example, not only can I advise a member under the act whether he or she can accept an offered gift from a lobbyist, I can also advise a lobbyist not to offer that gift in the first place.
In Ontario, the Members' Integrity Act lays out the conflict of interest rules for elected members, as well as their annual financial disclosure requirements. The act also contains the requirements and restrictions for ministers. In many ways, the rules and requirements are similar to those federally, and the act provides that members can seek my advice on their ethical obligations and any conflict of interest matters. The number of inquiries I receive each year averages in excess of 300, all of which are responded to in writing so the member can rely on that advice. In the year following the 2018 provincial election in Ontario, I responded to more than 530 inquiries. This was due to the high number of new members who had been elected, all of whom attended a training session I conducted shortly after the election.
I note that Commissioner Dion has recommended mandatory training for newly elected MPs. While Ontario does not have mandatory training, there is a long-standing history of commissioners addressing newly elected members following an election. I find this serves as a helpful introduction to the commissioner, the office and the act. However, we also have another requirement that serves as a form of training. Similar to the requirement in the conflict of interest code, members of provincial Parliament have an annual requirement to provide the commissioner with a private disclosure statement of their assets and liabilities, along with that of their spouse and any minor children.
Along with this disclosure process, the act requires that each member meet with the commissioner to discuss the statement and their obligations under the act. Meeting individually with all 124 MPPs certainly takes time, but it allows me to ensure that their financial disclosure is in line with the requirements of the act. It also provides me the opportunity to discuss any conflict of interest situations they may be facing, or to remind them of specific rules under the act. I view this annual activity as a form of refresher training for members about their obligations, and I emphasize that I do this on a one-to-one basis.
Of course, training can be effective in many different formats, but I will say that in my experience, the key to carrying out such activities is to build trust between the ethics office and the elected members. This ensures that members feel comfortable contacting the office when they need advice.
I've reviewed the recommendations that Commissioner Dion has made for amending the code. While several of them are specific to the language of the code and the system in place for the House of Commons, I want to touch on two of them as they relate to the Ontario experience.
The first is recommendation number four regarding treating sponsored travel as a gift. This is the approach taken with Ontario's legislation, meaning that a member must seek my advice and determination on whether he or she can accept the offer of the trip.