I am informed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Treasury Board as follows:
(a) The Department of Fisheries and Oceans no longer has a contractual relationship with Bristol Communications.
(b) $63,493.19 was invoiced by Bristol Communications in 1994-95 and $5,382.19 was invoiced in the first half of 1995-96.
(c) Departmental officials (employees) are subject to the provisions of the conflict of interest and post-employment code for the public service (public service code). This code does not make any specific statement "governing contracts with companies in which departmental officals-have an interest". However, there are provisions relating to assets held by employees.
Pursuant to sections 21 to 23 of the public service code, employees must make a confidential report to the designated official of all assets and of all direct and contingent liabilities, where these might give rise to a conflict of interest in respect of the employee's official duties and responsibilities. Such assets might include "interests in partnerships, proprietorships, joint ventures, private companies and family businesses, in particular those that own or control shares of public companies or that do business with the government".
Employees must divest assets where it is determined by the designated offical that they constitute a real or potential conflict of interest in relation to the duties and responsibilities of the employee. Divestment of assets is usually achieved by selling them in an arm's length transaction or by making them subject to a trust arrangement.
Minister's staff are subject to the provisions of the conflict of interest and post-employment code for public office holders (public office holder code). This code does not make any specific statement "governing contracts with companies in which- minister's staff have an interest". However, there are provisions relating to assets held by public office holders, which includes minister's staff.
Section 9(1) requires a confidential report to the ethics counsellor of all assets and of all direct and contingent liabilities.
Pursuant to section 10 to 14, the public office holders then make a public declaration of certain types of assets (such as interests in businesses that do not contract with the government and do not own or control publicly traded securities), and divest themselves of other types of assets which could be directly or indirectly affected as to value by government decisions or policy (such as publicly traded securities and businesses which contract with the government). Such divestment is by sale or by establishing a blind trust or management agreement approved by the ethics counsellor.
For more detailed information on conflict of interest and code of conduct, please refer to the codes.
