Secret conflicts in the public service

And the most-lobbied MPP is...

CONFLICTS IN CONFIDENCE

Integrity Commissioner CATHRYN MOTHERWELL dropped her annual report and it’s chock-full of anonymous cases of public servants skirting ethics rules. At 62, disclosure of wrongdoing is at an all-time high. Meanwhile, the number of consultant lobbyists is on the rise.

The Commish isn’t naming names, but released general summaries of each case involving allegations against civil servants.

That includes: Managers and employees involved in hiring and supervising close personal friends or family, a public servant involved in decision-making impacting their spouse, another who dealt with an issue that they had a personal interest in, allegations of “gross mismanagement, grave danger and contravention of a law.”

The cases were investigated and, when public servants were found to have broken the rules, they were reprimanded.

Ministers and their staff were also dealing with ethics conundrums…

— One Parliamentary Assistant asked if it was OK to accept a ticket to a charita…