Mr. Speaker, the story is well known. It appears the Minister of Natural Resources utilized the services and resources of the Toronto Port Authority. The executive assistant to the president and CEO sent out emails to solicit and to promote a fundraiser for the minister. The Toronto Port Authority is a federally controlled authority and its resources cannot be used for any unauthorized purposes.
The name on the flyer was Michael B. McSweeney, a registered lobbyist for the Cement Association of Canada. The fax number to send the order form for the minister's fundraiser happened to be the fax number for the Cement Association of Canada.
It is pretty clear that when a registered lobbyist does a fundraiser for a minister, whom he has registered to lobby, there is something wrong.
There are all kinds of potential breaches, but the most important has to do with the Prime Minister's code of conduct for ministers. The Prime Minister says:
I cannot stress enough that implementation of the Federal Accountability Act and associated Action Plan is not simply a matter of compliance. At least as important is our commitment to a culture of accountability in everything we do—that is, to uphold the highest standards of probity and ethical conduct in recognition of the fact that it is a privilege and a trust to participate in the process through which Canadians govern themselves.
He goes on to say that these measures complement the Conflict of Interest Act and establish the most rigorous conflict avoidance regime in Canada.
Annex H in the Guidelines for the Political Activities of Public Office holders, of which the Minister of Natural Resources is one, states:
—a public office holder should not participate in a political activity where it may reasonably be seen to be incompatible with the public office holder's duty, or otherwise be seen to impair his or her ability to discharge his or her public duties in a politically impartial fashion, or would cast doubt on the integrity or impartiality of the office.
Finally it states:
Compliance with these Guidelines is a term and condition of appointment. Before appointment, a public office holder shall certify that he or she will comply with these Guidelines.
These are the Prime Minister's guidelines for ministers. The Ethics Commissioner has no jurisdiction over these. These are the private guidelines of the Prime Minister.
We used to have an ethics counsellor who was between the Prime Minister and the code of conduct for ministers. We no longer have one. The only person who can sanction a minister under the Prime Minister's code of conduct is the Prime Minister himself.
Why is it that a minister who has so blatantly breached the Prime Minister's guidelines for his ministers not had any sanctions against her for violating virtually all of the provisions of Annex H of that code?