November 30, 1998

For the Record

The Conflict of Interest Commissioner's conclusions

Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Here are Conflict of Interest Commissioner Anne Crawford's conclusions, reprinted verbatim from her report.

Conclusions

This has been a long and expensive and largely unnecessary process.

The Act in s. 79.2 creates and easy and simple way for a Member who has a concern with any element of his or her obligations under the Act to simply write to the Conflict of Interest Commissioner and obtain a binding ruling.

The letter must be from and signed by the Member. In the letter and the exchange that follows, the Member must be completely honest about the situation. In return, the Member will receive written advice. If followed, this advice will protect the Member against any complaint under the Act on the basis of conflict of interest.

Mr. Morin knew about this section of the Act.

He could have asked for advice on his house.

He could have asked for advice on his fishing trip, or Lahm Ridge Towers, his relationship with Roland Bailey, or how to make a declaration at a Cabinet meeting and how it should be recorded. It would even be possible to request advise if you had made a declaration, but it failed to show up in the minutes of the meeting.

If Mr. Morin had made these requests, much of this Report would never have been written.

If Mr. Morin had properly informed his staff about his land dealings, another two issues would likely be gone from the terms of reference of this Inquiry.

If Mr. Morin had been honest and taken the care he should have with the documents he wrote, used and signed or asked others to sign and if he had set proper conflicts standards for his staff, there would have been almost nothing left to inquire into.

If Mr. Morin had taken these steps, there would have been little need for the time and expense and the drain on northern resources which this hearing represents. He, and the people of the Northwest Territories, would have been spared the embarrassment of such a detailed inquiry into such serious allegations. He would have been spared the personal and political turmoil that will likely follow this report.

Instead, Mr. Morin has chosen a path of confrontation and counterattack.

Mr. Morin, in the Assembly and on the public record, challenged Mrs. Groenewegen "or anyone else who may believe there is wrongdoing, to file a complaint against me with the Conflict of Interest Commissioner; that is, if they have the guts and the political backbone."

The record in these proceedings shows that from start to finish Mr. Morin has tried to use this Inquiry as a means to attack Mrs. Groenewegen, the complainant. He has not focused on his own office and conduct.

Mr. Morin is not entitled to live in a fancy big house unless he pays for it. Mr. Morin is not entitled to take a fishing trip arranged by a friend who has government contracts. Mr. Morin is obliged to govern himself by the standards set out in the Act.

It is now time for Mr. Morin to take responsibility for his actions.

It is also time for the Assembly to seriously consider what Mr. Morin has done.

Mr. Morin, on three occasions, has asked the Commissioner or the Clerk of the Assembly, and through them the Assembly itself and the public, to accept or act on documents which were not accurate and which he knew were not accurate.

Mr. Morin has arranged to receive special treatment and obtain a benefit from a Contractor who has done most of his $150 million of business with the Government of the Northwest Territories. It is little wonder that there are rumours and rumblings of favouritism and preference. Even with the cleanest tendering in the world, if the people at the top are accepting personal benefits, the whole system will come under scrutiny.

Both of these violations were done with full knowledge, with time to reflect and with an understanding that others might not approve. I see them as wilful and deliberate violations of the Act.

Mr. Morin asked for and accepted free travel and fishing from a contractor who bid for many northern contracts. Mr. Morin knew that Mr. Bailey had post-employment obligations for the first year after he left the government. If Mr. Morin had cared to even look he had access to all the Cabinet Documents which would have confirmed the issues Mr. Bailey had been working with and around. He knew Mr. Bailey was his Principal Secretary's apartment mate. He knew of Mr. Bailey's extensive and controversial bids on major government consulting contracts.

You may say that it was an innocent fishing trip, but if you were Mr. Bailey's competitor you would have left the office angry and frustrated the day you learned about it. And you would think twice about tendering against a man with Mr. Bailey's inside track. That is bad for government and bad for the economy, because we need competitive tendering. It is bad for democracy at its basic levels when we no longer think of merit and ability as being the important factors and start to think of who-you-know and where-your-friends-are as being the basics for success.

When you are the Premier everyone is watching you. It is a position of high honour and high profile. You are setting the standard for others. The public service follow the example of what the Premier does as much as what the Premier says, and probably more. If the standard is low then you will attract and keep people who like low standards.

Mr. Morin forgot to tell his cabinet colleagues and his staff that he was selling some land in Fort Resolution to the Deninu K'ue Development Corporation. He was entitled to sell his land and the community was entitled to buy it. He was not entitled to promote or push forward the sale through his political office.

He says he was not at a meeting where he signed the minutes stating he was present. He says he really didn't have to make a declaration, or maybe he did, but he did it before the meeting started. This is missing the basic point. He failed to inform anyone of the conflict. As a result, no one knew that Mr. Morin and his office should not be involved in the Ft Resolution Office project.

The same day Danny Beaulieu came toYellowknife to have Mrs. Morin sign the land deal, Mr. Morin's staff were calmly making appointments for Beaulieu to discuss progress on the project! His staff were contacting government departments and agencies to push through a deal which would put money directly into Mr. Morin's pocket.

When Mr. Morin's friends — and I use that label advisedly — obtained, under the most extraordinary circumstances, a hugely profitable office lease, which no one else had been able to get, Mr. Morin used his office and authority to tell everyone that the deal was fair and that those who complained were just whiners and snivellers. Mr. Morin was not believable because his own position was already compromised by accepting favours and benefits.

He brought down his own reputation and the reputation of his office of Premier. He brought down our reputation in the Northwest Territories. It will take years of work to regain what he has taken away from each of us.

There is nothing major wrong or out of date in the Northwest Territories law on this subject. The Act is clear. The basic principles are: full disclosure - so that conflicts are easy to identify; notice — so that the attention of others is drawn to your conflict and withdrawal — so that you do not become involved in advancing your own interests when you should be serving others. It is not the Act which needs changing here, it is the conduct of the Premier.