Former Prince George Peace River MP Jay Hill disagrees with the findings of federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson that he violated conflict of interest guidelines by contacting former cabinet colleagues.
"I strongly dispute this conclusion, and the process and methods she undertook to arrive at her decision," Hill wrote in an email to the Citizen, but he said he did apologize to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his former cabinet colleagues for any inconvenience the report has caused.
In a 26-page report released late Tuesday afternoon, Dawson concluded that Hill violated one section of the Conflict of Interest Act in 2011 when he made calls to three cabinet ministers relating to a pending natural gas deal. Dawson cleared Hill on charges he violated two other sections of the act.
According to Dawson, Hill made calls to International Trade Minister Ed Fast, Industry Minister Christian Paradis and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister John Duncan on or around May 31, 2011 relating to Petronas pending takeover of Progress Energy. At the time, Hill's spouse Leah Murray was working for National Public Relations, which had been hired by Progress.
"His calls increased the likelihood that Ms. Murray and her employer would succeed in implementing some of the objectives of the strategic communications plan," Dawson wrote in her report. "Mr. Hill therefore acted in a manner as to take improper advantage of his previous public office as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons."
Hill represented the Prince George Peace River riding from 1993 to 2010 and served in cabinet as the government whip and house leader.
Dawson said Hill used his influence as a former cabinet minister to arrange the calls with the ministers, a violation of section 33 of the act. However she said that he didn't try to lobby them about any decisions they had to make surrounding the deal, nor did he arrange any meetings.
In his email to the Citizen, Hill said he only made the calls to make the ministers aware of a decision the companies had already made internally, but had yet to announce publicly.
"Based on my 17 years as a Member of Parliament, the majority of which I served as party whip or house leader, I made the decision to contact three of my former colleagues to give them a heads-up of the pending announcement," Hill wrote. "This is a common practice in government, as ministers and senior staff are often given advance notice of pending deals or business negotiations."
The decision by Paradis and Harper to approve the deal by Petronas, a state-owner Malaysian company, to buy Progress was controversial. The government had to balance the benefits of foreign investment against the risks of a foreign state-owned company owning some of Canada's natural resources. The $5.2 billion transaction was given the green light by the government in December.
