PREMIER EYES ETHICS RULES
Conflict- of- interest allegations at U of C monitored by province
In the wake of allegations of undue corporate influence at the University of Calgary, the premier suggested Tuesday her government will examine if Alberta’s postsecondary institutions should be forced to comply with provincial conflict- of- interest legislation.
Senior academics at the U of C alleged in a CBC News investigation that Enbridge Inc. inappropriately interfered in the university’s Centre for Corporate Sustainability, after the pipeline giant provided a $ 2.25- million donation to fund the think- tank.
But school president Elizabeth Cannon and Enbridge deny any wrongdoing.
Cannon is a longtime board member with Enbridge’s income fund and questions have also been raised regarding her paid role as a corporate director with the Calgary- based company, and an email she sent to the business school dean in 2012 passing along Enbridge’s concerns with his leadership of the research centre.
Premier Rachel Notley told reporters Tuesday she’s monitoring the situation at the U of C and the oversight provided by the board of governors her government appoints.
“Our university system is set up in such a way that we have a board of directors, or board of governors, at each post- secondary institution, who are tasked with the responsibility of overseeing ethical behaviour and the code of conduct,” Notley said.
The premier added that the government will be looking at “what the board concludes, in terms of looking at these particular circumstances, the allegations with respect to the work that was being done at the university, the independence, and the academic integrity of the work that was being done at the university.”
But in a statement issued late Tuesday, the U of C said its board of governors, which is chaired by Bonnie DuPont, a former group vice- president at Enbridge, is not undertaking an investigation as “no formal complaint has been received.”
“If a formal complaint is received, this would be investigated by the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Protected Disclosure,” read the statement.
Notley also said Tuesday it’s “very important” the province develop consistent conflict of interest rules.
( The government will be looking at) ... the independence, and the academic integrity of the work that was being done at the university.
“As part of our larger review of agencies, boards and commissions, one of the issues that we would be looking at would be the application of the conflict of interest legislation to ensure a consistent approach to these issues,” she said.
If applied in the university context, the law could allow the province’s ethics commissioner to forbid school executives from holding outside directorships or employment that created or appeared to create a conflict of interest, require annual public disclosure of their financial interests, and force them to place publicly traded securities in a blind trust while in office.
Under the U of C’s current code of conduct, employees and academic staff are required to internally disclose potential conflicts of interest, refrain from using their position to influence decisions that would benefit them or related parties, and obtain written approval to engage in any activity that may give rise to a conflict of commitment.
The University of Calgary said it would, “of course comply with any new conflict of interest legislation related to the government’s review of agencies, boards and commissions,” in Tuesday’s statement.
Robin Vose is president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, a national organization that is looking into the allegations of academic freedom being violated at the U of C.
Vose said the group welcomes the idea of provincially imposed guidelines to regulate conflict of interest issues at post- secondaries.
“Every university should have them anyways,” Vose said.
“If government can come up with guidelines that are fair, and equitable, and transparent, I can’t see any downside to that. That sounds like a positive step forward.”
Cannon has been a board member with Enbridge’s income fund since 2004 and security filings show she was paid $ 130,500 last year for her work as an independent director.
Company documents also show that at the end of 2014 Cannon was owner of 25,300 shares in the income fund with market worth of approximately $ 810,000.
The university president insists she was “absolutely” wearing her “university hat” when she personally intervened in the centre by emailing the business school dean about the project.
“The email sent in ( 2012) is not in contravention of me staying out of the operations,” she told the Herald in an interview Monday.
“It was a simple reminder to him that when we get into an agreement he has to be accountable for delivering back, but that does not contravene any conflict of interest. There’s no direction from me other than that we need to provide leadership and to deliver back to the community, but not getting involved in the day to day operations.”
No formal academic complaints related to the research centre, which launched as the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability in 2012 and has since dropped Enbridge from its name, have been filed at the U of C.
“We take complaints very seriously,” Cannon said on Monday.
“If an academic staff member feels that academic integrity has been compromised or other academic freedom had been infringed upon, they can file a complaint.”
Sandra Hoenle, president of the U of C’s faculty association, said the recent allegations concerning Enbridge point to a larger problem she’s long noticed at the university.
“This is really a systemic issue about transparency. There are a lot of things happening at the university that senior administration, and/ or the board of governors, are doing that really scream for transparency and they’re not being transparent,” she said.