International Trade Minister Mary Ng has pledged through signing a “conflict of interest screen” to never again award a sole-sourced contract to her longtime-friend Amanda Alvaro, the president of a Toronto-based public relations agency.
“The Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed a conflict of interest screen is an appropriate measure to prevent any opportunity while exercising my official powers, duties and functions to further the private interests of my friend Ms. Amanda Alvaro, president of Pomp & Circumstances, or by giving preferential treatment to Pomp & Circumstances that may have future dealings with the government of Canada,” Ng wrote in a filing with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Ethics, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Ng added that the screen will be administered by her chief of staff to ensure that she is “neither made aware of nor a participant in any discussions or decision-making processes pertaining to the private interests of my friend or matters relating specifically to Pomp & Circumstances.”
Ng’s office awarded media coaching contracts to Alvaro’s agency worth over $22,000 in total.
He said the ministers’ offices in Global Affairs Canada have the authority to award contracts up to a certain value, but acknowledged that he had never in his career as a public servant seen a sole-sourced contract for a communications service that was directly initiated by a minister’s office.
Apology
Dion’s investigation into Ng’s granting of contracts to Pomp & Circumstance came after Conservative MP James Bezan filed a formal complaint in May 2022.“This is regrettably just another installment in the long-running saga of members of this Liberal government making a mockery of both the letter and spirit of the ethical laws,” Bezan wrote at the time.
Ng apologized to the House of Commons following Dion’s statement that she violated conflict of interest laws.
“I have taken and am taking full responsibility for my actions. I should have recused myself. I am sincerely sorry for not having done so,” she said on Dec. 13.
“What I want Canadians to know is that this will not happen again.”
“What does it mean to take full responsibility for one’s actions in the House? It means doing something, not just apologizing, but assuming responsibility,” he said.
“She used her authority to award $20,000 worth of contracts to a Liberal friend. She is the fourth Liberal minister to be caught by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. ... Yes, she has apologized, but will she do the right thing and step down?”
