Audit Slaps Wrist of Natural Resources for Lobbyist Conflict-of-Interest

Nov 03, 02:06 PM

Current Headlines: By Dean Beeby, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - A federal department has been buying its employees expensive memberships in groups that lobby the government - a potential conflict-of-interest, says a new report.

An audit has found that Natural Resources Canada spent almost a million dollars last year on memberships in professional bodies, or an average of about $300 for each employee.

It says the spending is far in excess of amounts spent by other departments and too often takes place without any apparent consideration of ethics.

"Due to the potential for conflict of interest, some departmental groups (in Natural Resources) do not hold memberships in organizations that lobby or are perceived to lobby the government, although other groups within the department do not follow the same protocol," says the document.

"There is no clear policy in NRCan on whether or not this practice should be allowed."

The audit, completed in September, was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The report compared the bill for membership fees in professional bodies with those of four other departments, and determined NRCan pays almost twice as much as the next highest.

"NRCan's expenditures on membership fees are comparatively high in relation to other government departments on both an absolute and per capita basis," says the report.

Auditors also sampled 31 membership fee transactions and found that 18 were held in the name of an individual employee rather than the department. Nine of these individual memberships lacked the approval of the deputy minister, as the rules require.

The document does not cite individual groups or organizations, but a spokeswoman for Natural Resources said the department has bought memberships in the Canadian Solar Industries Association.

The not-for-profit group, formed in 1992, promotes the use of solar energy for electricity and heat generation. David Elzinga, an investment officer with Natural Resources, is the association's secretary while others on the board of directors represent private-sector solar companies.

The group has also engaged two lobbyists - Gordon Shields of GS Government Consulting Services and independent consultant Isabel Metcalfe - to press Natural Resources and other federal departments for the "development of solar support programs" and to "seek support for and raise awareness of the Canadian solar energy industry," according to the federal lobbyists registry.

The audit notes that Treasury Board policy does not explicitly forbid memberships in groups that lobby Ottawa. But it calls on Natural Resources officials to develop clear policies to deal with the risk of conflict of interest.

It's not clear why the department's membership bill is so high and senior management may have to examine the trends and reasoning behind the expenses, said spokeswoman Anne-Marie Toone.

In the meantime, Natural Resources is revamping its membership policies and expects to announce the results next month, she said.

Natural Resources is primarily responsible for the $1.5-billion ecoEnergy program, announced in January by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to promote renewable energy.