Submission to the Clerk of the House of Commons respecting my private interest relating to Bills C-56 and C-352

HERE is a link to remarks I delivered in the House of Commons on 16 October 2023, in which I detailed the nature of my private interest in my family’s business and its relation to the House’s consideration of Bill C-56 and Bill C-352, and explained a set of documents, below, that I submitted to the Clerk of the House of Commons.

I am posting these documents here because I think that transparency is essential in matters relating to ethics. It was for this reason that I stood in the House and made these remarks, and it was also for this reason that I sought to table these four documents in the House of Commons (which would have resulted in these documents being added to the public record as a part of the Journals of the House.

Unfortunately, the parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader denied the unanimous consent that is required to table documents in the House. So I am adding them to the public record by posting them here, instead.

HERE is my cover letter to the Clerk of the House of Commons.

Below are four documents that I have submitted to the Clerk of the House of Commons, pursuant to subsection 12(1) of the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.

1. A letter that I wrote to the Ethics Commissioner on 19 September 2023, in which I laid out the general nature of my private interest in my family’s business.
2. An email thread containing subsequent correspondence with the Ethics Commissioner and his staff, leading up to, and including, his response email on 6 October 2023.
3. A further letter that I sent on 16 October 2023, in order to comply with the Ethics Commissioner’s further instruction with respect to proceedings in the National Conservative Caucus, of which I am the Chair.
4. The cover letter to the Ethics Commissioner, delivered to his office on 16 October 2023, in which I confirmed to him that I have complied with this further instruction.

For further reference, here is the letter I received from the Ethics Commissioner on 6 October 2023.

UPDATE (added 9 February 2024):

HERE is the letter I sent to the Ethics Commissioner on 24 November 2023, in which I detailed how I recused myself from debates and votes in the House of Commons on 20 and 23 November 2023.

HERE is the letter I sent to the Ethics Commissioner on 9 February 2024, in which I detailed how I recused myself from debates and votes in the House of Commons on 5, 11, and 13 December 2023, and 2 and 7 February 2024.

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