History of the Office: 1990s

Georges Tsaï replaces Jean-Pierre Kingsley as Assistant Deputy Registrar General. (Mr. Kingsley becomes the Chief Electoral Officer.)​

The Special Joint Committee on Conflict of Interests’ Report to the Senate and to the House of Commons: Subject Matter of Bill C-43 (Conflict of Interests for Parliamentarians) is tabled in the Senate and House.​

​​Second reading of Bill C-116 in the House and its referral to a Special Joint Committee similar to the committee that had reported in June 1992.​

​​Howard Wilson replaces Georges Tsaï as Assistant Deputy Registrar General.​

​​Report of the Special Joint Committee to the House of Commons recommends that Bill C-116 not be proceeded with. A similar report is made to the Senate on the same day. Both Bill C-43 and Bill C-116 die on the Order Paper when the 34th Parliament is dissolved on September 8, 1993.​

​​Order in Council P.C. 1993-1487: “Order transferring to the Department of Industry, Science and Technology the control and supervision of certain portions of the Public Service and Transferring to the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology the powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Amalgamating and Combining the Departments of Industry, Science and Technology and the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs under the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology.”​

​​The Speech from the Throne announces that an ethics counsellor would be appointed to advise ministers and public service workers and to examine the need for legislation. This person to replace the Assistant Deputy Registrar General. The Counsellor would have jurisdiction over the Lobbyist Registration Act and the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders.​

​​Howard Wilson is appointed Ethics Counsellor, in charge of lobbying and conflict of interest. He reports directly to the Prime Minister and serves under the general direction of the Clerk of the Privy Council (announced in speech by PM Jean Chrétien, see Hansard, p. 5395.) Administrative support for the Office of the Ethics Counsellor is provided by Industry Canada (Industry replaces the offices of the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, and of Consumer and Corporate Affairs in March 1995). A new Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders, little changed from its predecessor, is also released. (It was subsequently amended in 2003, 2004, and 2006.)​

​​Auditor General of Canada’s May report includes “Chapter 1: Ethics and Fraud Awareness in Government.”​

​​The House and Senate pass motions to establish a Special Joint Committee to develop a Code of Conduct. (See Order of Reference; Motion in House of Commons, June 19, 1995; Motion in Senate, June 28, 1995.)​

​​Howard Wilson is designated as the Ethics Counsellor for the purposes of the Lobbyists Registration Act. (See Order in Council PC 1996-0266.)​

​​The House and Senate pass motions to establish a Special Joint Committee to develop a Code of Conduct. (See House of Commons Journals, March 12, 1996; Senate Journals, March 19, 1996.)​

​​The House is informed that a Member’s vote (that of the Minister of Finance) on one question would not be applied to another question in which the Member has a personal interest. (See p. 3041 of Hansard.)​

​​A Strong Foundation: Report of the Task Force on Public Service Values and Ethics (Tait Report) issued. This is one of nine task forces led by deputy ministers that were established by the Clerk of the Privy Council in 1995. This task force took the form of a Study Team established by the Canadian Centre for Management Development and led by John Tait, former Deputy Minister of Justice and then a Senior Fellow of the Centre. ​

​​The Special Joint Committee on a Code of Conduct tables its proposed Code of Official Conduct, the Milliken-Oliver report. (Code of Official Conduct, Sessional Paper No. 2/35-622, see evidence/minutes of Committee here.)​

​​Finance Minister Paul Martin rises to indicate that in the process of the House agreeing to apply the results of one vote to another vote, he had been registered to vote on the Canada Marine Act. He asks for and is granted the unanimous consent of the House to have his vote deleted from the record. (See Hansa​rd​.)​

​​Office of Public Service Values and Ethics is established.​

​​Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson appears before the Standing Committee on Industry regarding the Main Estimates for 1999-2000.​

​​Bill C-4​88, NDP MP Gordon Earle’s private Member’s bill, which establishes a Parliamentarians’ Code of Conduct, is introduced. The bill dies on the Order Paper when the first session of the 36th Parliament ends on September 17, 1999, and is reintroduced as Bill C-2​26 in the next session. The bill again dies on the Order Paper when an election was called and the 36th Parliament ends in October 2000. In the 37th Parliament, 1st session, NDP MP Alexa McDonough introduces private Member’s bill, Bill C-29​9, to enact a Parliamentarians’ Code of Conduct and the position of an Ethics Commissioner, and BQ MP Stéphane Bergeron introduces Bill C-3​88, which enacts a statute governing ministers. Neither bill proceeds. In the 37th Parliament, 2nd Session and again in the 3rd Session, NDP MP Alex McDonough introduces private Member’s bill, Bill C-4​17, which would create a Parliamentarians’ Code of Conduct and the position of an Ethic Commissioner. Neither bill proceeds.​