Less than two months after resigning as a cabinet minister, and less than two weeks after resigning as a Member of Parliament, Canada’s former Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is a director with the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold and has been nominated to a directorship of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) which pays at least $235,000.
On his Twitter account, the former minister wrote on Monday (March 30) “I consulted the Ethics Comissioner before joining Barrick and before accepting CP’s invitation to serve on their Board. Got the green light.”
The office confirmed to RCI that the Commissioner was consulted, and based on the information given by the former minister “Commissioner Mary Dawson has no reason to believe that he would not be meeting his post-employment obligations under the [Conflict of Interest] Act.”
RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda has a report.
ListenMore information:
Conflict of Interest Act – here
List of directors on Barrick Gold’s International Advisory Board (pdf – page 14) – here
CP Rail Director Nominees list (pdf – page 5) – here
Ottawa Citizen – Ethics watchdog approved jobs with Barrick Gold, Canadian Pacific: Baird – here
NOW – John Baird Strikes gold with Barrick – here
CBC News – John Baird to join Canadian Pacific Railway board of directors – here
Star Phoenix – Political hires give railways inside track – here
John Baird twitter account – @Baird
ThinkPol – John Baird gets job with mining giant that got government subsidies when he was a minister – here
UPDATE: After Wojtek Gwiazda’s report was recorded, and before it went online on Wednesday, the office of Canada’s Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson sent answers to supplementary questions sent to the office by RCI.
To the question on when John Baird consulted the Office of the Commissioner, the Office answered “We do not divulge details about our confidential dealings with public office holders, including the dates of such contacts. All I can tell you is that Mr. Baird consulted with the Commissioner.”
To the question: Would discussion of a directorship with Barrick or CP Rail be considered “direct and significant official dealings in the year preceding their last day in public office” ?
The Office answered: “As indicated in our information notice on the subject, direct and significant official dealings must, among other considerations, relate to government business and activities. Discussion of an offer of employment would not generally be considered government business.”
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