REGINA - Reaction has been swift from the government and opposition sides to the ruling that Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill had violated the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act.
Commissioner Maurice Herauf ruled this week that Cockrill violated s.15(5) of the Act through his continued employment into Dec. 2021 with Fortress Windows and Doors, a business that received government contracts from both Battlefords Housing Authority and SaskTel. Herauf recommended a reprimand for Cockrill, given his minimal role and given that the breach was neither intentional nor deliberate.
Cockrill issued this statement regarding the ruling:
“After fully cooperating with the Commissioner over the last several months, I am pleased to see he has come to a decision on both matters. I accept his finding in the Helium matter. I also accept his finding in the Fortress matter and agree that any breach of the Act on my part was neither intentional nor deliberate. The Commissioner found that I breached the Act through my ‘remote’ and ‘de minimis’ (a Latin phrase meaning trifling or negligible) participation in government contracts. The breach of the Act was neither ‘intentional nor deliberate’.
“The Commissioner stated in his opinion: ‘Mr. Cockrill acted appropriately and sought the advice on my office on disclosure, but no specific advice was sought or provided to him respecting his continued employment. I do not consider his breach of the Act to have been intentional or deliberate. I also acknowledge that his interest in Fortress was remote, albeit captured by the Act.’
“After first being elected, I reached out to the Commissioner for an opinion regarding disclosure requirements under the Act when I became aware of contracts that Fortress Windows had procured. I followed the Commissioner’s recommendations in that opinion. I believed that following the Commissioner’s opinion meant I was fully compliant with the Act. However, the Commissioner noted I failed to ask for an opinion on my employment specifically. The Commissioner also acknowledged in his opinion that he should have been more “prudent” in his advice to me on this issue.
“This matter has been difficult for my family as NDP MLAs and candidates have tried to sully the reputation of both me and my family to score political points ahead of an election. I look forward to continuing to work with the Commissioner and continuing a demonstrated track record of transparency.”
NDP reacts
When asked Wednesday about Cockrill’s statement to the media, and in particular that last paragraph about the NDP trying to sully his reputation, Opposition Ethics and Democracy Critic Meara Conway was less than impressed.
“So the commissioner is very clear. Had he come into compliance, he wouldn't have been offside of the Act.” said Conway at a news conference at the Legislature.
“But he didn't. He continued to be, to take financial benefit from the company up to nine months after he got this opinion. Again, Jeremy Cockrell is an adult working in politics, (it) was not on the commissioner to babysit him. As soon as he got this opinion, he should have cut ties with the company. This is a serious issue.
“This is a question of public trust in elected officials. That's why we have conflict of interest and ethics rules. These are very serious matters, not ones to be like, I'll comply with the commissioner if I feel like it.”
Conway added that “to me, it shows, again, a flippancy, maybe even a sense of entitlement, and definitely a pattern of conflict from a pattern of conduct from a government that time and time again does not appear to take their ethical duties very seriously, in my view.”
At the news conference Conway indicated her party planned to bring a motion to the Legislature in the spring to reprimand Cockrill. She also said the NDP were calling for an apology from Cockrill as well.
“His statement is disappointing,” Conway said. “He doesn't seem to be accepting responsibility. And again, had he come into compliance with the Commissioner's opinion, he would not have been found to have breached the act. Section 17, the exception would have applied. So he needs to take responsibility for his role in being found to be offside the act, apologize, and I think a reprimand is appropriate.”
Conway also commented on the Commissioner’s ruling that Cockrill had not violated the Act over his investments in two helium companies.
She characterized the ruling as meaning that Cockrill “will not face any accountability for two helium companies that he holds direct investments in, due to what frankly can only be described, in our view, as a legal loophole in the act that we believe needs to be closed.”
Conway pointed to Cockrill’s involvement in discussions at the cabinet table on helium policy.
“But because the names of these two companies were not mentioned on the agenda, he was okay to participate in these conversations,” Conway said.
“He was at the table, he did not recuse himself from discussions on the helium industry and public policy around the helium industry. In our view, this can only be described as a legal loophole, frankly one big enough to drive a combine through.”
Conway indicated the NDP would likely bring a private members’ bill in the spring looking to close that loophole in the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act regarding investments.
As for this being the second time this fall that a Sask Party MLA has violated the Conflict of Interest Act -- following the ruling against former Regina Northeast MLA Gary Grewal in October -- Conway’s reaction was that she didn’t think this was a government that could be trusted to address the challenges facing the province.
“You know, we've heard from Premier (Scott) Moe this past sitting that this is a government that heard the electorate in terms of this kind of historic change we saw in terms of the balance of power in Saskatchewan… I think they're paying lip service to that change. I think this is the same old Sask Party. I think they're more concerned with self-preservation and hanging on to power than they are, and themselves, than they are digging in and finding solutions for the people of Saskatchewan.”
