OTTAWA-
Liberal MP Greg Fergus has written a letter to Canada’s broadcast regulator to back a TV channel’s request for mandatory broadcast, despite federal guidelines that prohibit parliamentary secretaries from making such interventions.
The letter was sent to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission last week to encourage the required distribution of Natyf TV, which caters to a multicultural francophone audience, as part of basic digital services.
Fergus, who represents Hull-Aylmer’s Quebec riding, is also Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, and has served as head of the Liberal Black Caucus.
The federal conflict of interest and ethics commissioner’s written guidance says cabinet ministers and parliamentary clerks “should not, under any circumstances” attempt to intervene in the decision-making process of an administrative tribunal, such as the CRTC, on behalf of of any constituent in any assembling.
The commissioner says that such contact can be considered an attempt to influence a decision, which is a violation of the Conflict of Interest Law.
In response to questions about his letter, Fergus called it an “honest mistake”.
“I’m going to have to take responsibility for this and figure out what needs to be done.”
The Canadian Press came across Fergus’s letter during a routine review of CRTC filings.
Section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act prohibits a public office holder, as ministers and parliamentary secretaries are known, from using their position to seek to influence decision-making where doing so would unduly promote the private interests of another person.
Parliamentary secretaries, while not cabinet members, serve as key government representatives and important links between ministers and parliament, says federal guidance on the prime minister’s website.
A parliamentary secretary supports his or her minister by helping to promote the government’s legislative agenda, speaks in the House of Commons in the minister’s absence, acts as a liaison between the minister and the caucus, and may be assigned specific duties to develop policy or public participation.
Margot Booth, a spokeswoman for ethics commissioner Mario Dion, said Monday that confidentiality requirements prevented her from speaking about Fergus’s letter.
In an interview Tuesday, Fergus said he contacted the commissioner’s office after being asked about the letter by The Canadian Press.
Fergus said he has always tried to be careful to stay “well within the lines” when it comes to adhering to ethics rules and would follow up with the commissioner.
“I support the ethics commissioner,” he said. “I support the rules that are established.”
The letter is dated June 28, 2021, but was submitted to the CRTC only on September 28 of this year. Fergus was also parliamentary secretary in June last year.
Fergus said that a constituent associated with Natyf TV asked him to send him a letter. “I said, ‘Of course, of course, I’m happy to write a letter of support. So I did.’
In a notice dated Sept. 21, the CRTC invited comment on the station’s request ahead of a hearing scheduled for January next year.
In the letter, which Fergus said was written for him, the MP offers his full support to the TV channel and says he hopes the broadcast regulator will pay close attention to the matter.
Fergus adds that the innovative project provides French-speaking viewers with programming featuring emerging Canadian artists.
The presentation is written on the letterhead of Fergus, a member of Parliament, and does not mention his role as parliamentary secretary.
In a February 2016 report involving another parliamentary clerk, then Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson said that clerks are prohibited from sending letters of support to an administrative tribunal “whether or not they sign as members or as parliamentary clerks”.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 4, 2022.