NEWS RELEASE
Ottawa, June 12, 2025
The latest annual reports of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, tabled today in Parliament, detail how it helped elected and appointed federal officials avoid conflicts of interest in the last fiscal year.
Its activities cover a range of areas, but all are aimed at helping public officials avoid conflicts of interest. This helps Canadians trust that their elected and appointed officials at the federal level are acting to benefit the public, not themselves or their friends or relatives.
Activity highlights
- Advice given to elected and appointed officials over 3,200 times.
- Online course on the Code launched. Bilingual, accessible, mobile-friendly, and easy to use, it features interactive scenarios that provide practical examples of how the Code applies. Training on the Code is mandatory for all Members. They can access it through the parliamentary intranet.
- 28 educational sessions delivered to groups of officials subject to the Conflict of Interest Act.
- 7 appearances before parliamentary committees. The Commissioner was asked at committee if there were any legislative changes he would recommend. In the annual report on the Act, he proposes 6. They include allowing reporting public office holders to own certain types of assets that the Act does not currently let them own, if the Commissioner believes there is no risk of conflict of interest. Possible candidates could include exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
- 3 investigation reports issued under the Act: Ouimet Report, Verschuren Report and Bloom Report. No investigation reports were issued under the Code.
- New Strategic Plan to advance the vision, mission, and mandate of the Commissioner's Office over the next five years.
The annual report on the Code mentions the List of Sponsored Travel that the Commissioner must send to the Speaker of the House of Commons. The 2024 List of Sponsored Travel was tabled in the House on May 27, 2025, after Parliament resumed following the general election. It shows that in 2024, 30 Members of the House of Commons accepted a total of 38 sponsored trips with a combined value of $230,727.04. This was down from the 96 sponsored trips Members accepted in 2023.
Quotes from Commissioner von Finckenstein
“In response to questions raised during committee meetings in the last Parliament, I would like to highlight that in our annual reports I have suggested a few modest legislative changes. These proposals are aimed at helping the Commissioner's Office function more effectively and administer the Conflict of Interest Act more efficiently."
“Our Office works to strike the right balance between confidentiality—to protect the privacy of elected and appointed federal officials—and transparency—to support accountability. We share as much information as we can with Parliament and Canadians, including through our annual reports."
Quick facts
- The Conflict of Interest Act applies to about 3,000 people appointed to their position by the Governor in Council (the Governor General acting on the advice of Cabinet) or a minister. This number goes up and down a bit, depending on how many positions are vacant. On March 31, 2025, more than 2,800 people were subject to the Act, including:
- over 1,500 public office holders without reporting obligations, such as part-time members of federal boards, commissions and tribunals, and some part-time ministerial staff;
- over 1,300 reporting public office holders, such as ministers, parliamentary secretaries and full-time ministerial staff.
- The Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons applies to all 343 elected Members of Parliament. Members who are ministers or parliamentary secretaries must also follow to the Conflict of Interest Act.
- The Commissioner's Office maintains a searchable public registry. It contains all the information about elected and appointed officials that the Commissioner is authorized to make public. There were over 120,000 visits to the registry in 2024-2025, up significantly from previous years.
- It publishes quarterly statistical reports that contain data on various activity areas.
- It posts financial reports and annual financial statements on its website.
For more information, please call 613-995-0721 or send us an email.
