Poilievre aide broke conflict of interest rule

A senior adviser to Employment and Social Development Canada Minister Pierre Poilievre has been sanctioned by the ethics commissioner for accepting a gift from a lobby group that dealt with his department.

George Rae, now director of policy in Poilievre’s office, was found by Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson to have breached the Conflict of Interest Act by taking a ticket to a gala from the Forest Products Association of Canada in 2013. At the time, Rae worked for then-minister Jason Kenney, who is now minister of Defence.

Rae accepted an invitation from the group to attend a $125-perplate alumni dinner of the Parliamentary Internship Programme that honoured former Progressive Conservative prime minister Kim Campbell, the same event cited by Dawson in a February report finding a violation of the conflict law by another Kenney aide, Michael Bonner.

Dawson wrote that the forestry group had lobbied Bonner, “particularly in areas related to Mr. Bonner’s responsibilities as a senior policy advisor.”

About six weeks before the dinner, lobbyist registry records show, FPAC met with both Bonner and Rae on employment and training issues. Dawson’s report said “the discussion centred on logging, cutting down trees for the pulp and paper industry, the number of employees, training, and aboriginal peoples.”

Rae was not mentioned in the Bonner report, but Dawson on Monday issued a compliance order directing him to “refrain from accepting any gift or other advantage in similar circumstances without seeking approval from my Office while you are a public office holder.”

Rae did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Bonner and Rae are considered public-office holders. Under the ethics law, neither they nor their families are allowed to accept gifts that might be seen as influencing them in their official duties.