TekSavvy will return its complaint to the federal integrity commissioner
OTTAWA – The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner will not initiate an examination into CRTC chair Ian Scott’s alleged bias related to meetings with telecommunications service providers, according to the commissioner’s report on the matter, which was published online today.
“It was alleged that Mr. Scott had several meetings with large telecommunication providers while they had open and active files before the CRTC, thereby failing to avoid apparent conflicts of interest in breach of the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and CRTC practices,” the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner explained in a final report on the matter.
This includes a December 2019 meeting (above) with Mirko Bibic, then chief operating officer of Bell who later became the company’s CEO. They met at an Ottawa bar a week after Bell filed an application with the CRTC asking it to review and vary its 2019 order on wholesale rates. Scott was on the CRTC panel that issued a decision varying the order in May 2021.
TekSavvy filed a disclosure of facts and circumstances with the federal integrity commissioner this past March, which alleged Scott was in contravention of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. In May, the request was referred to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner pointed to a media article from February 2020 in which Bibic was described as a friend of Scott, whose term as CRTC chair ends Sept. 4. “I was concerned that, by participating in the May 2021 Telecom Decision, Mr. Scott may have had an opportunity to further the private interests of a friend or improperly further those of a corporation whose CEO was a friend,” the commissioner wrote in his report.
Scott told the commissioner he did not characterize Bibic as a friend, rather the author of the article chose that word.
The commissioner ultimately determined Bibic and Scott have an exclusively professional relationship, and were not “friends” according to the meaning of the word in the Conflict of Interest Act.
The commissioner’s report indicates Scott said the meeting in question “was arranged approximately two weeks before it occurred as a courtesy to congratulate Mr. Bibic on being named CEO of BCE. Inc. as announced in June 2019.”
Furthermore, Scott indicated “that the “social” aspect of the meeting as used in his calendar entry was intended to reflect the characterization of the meeting as one without any plan to discuss substantive matters relating to broadcasting or telecommunications,” the commissioner’s report explained. “Mr. Scott described the conversation as relating to the announcement of Mr. Bibic’s promotion to CEO of BCE Inc., the general challenges associated with being the CEO of an organization, and the relative infrequency of individuals from legal or regulatory backgrounds becoming CEOs.”
The reason Scott gave the commissioner for the meeting later being reported under the Lobbying Act is that Bibic wanted “to dicsuss the use of official languages and the emphasis he intended to place on the French language and to increase Bell’s French-language media in Quebec.”
The commissioner’s decision is not the end of the road for TekSavvy, which maintains there was a breach of procedural fairness.
“This decision does not exonerate Ian Scott’s conduct in the least,” said Peter Nowak, TekSavvy’s VP of insight and engagement, in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca.
“It focused on the narrow definition of the word “friends” and it’s unfortunate that the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner merely took Mr. Scott at his word about the nature of his relationship with Bell’s CEO, instead of interviewing any other witnesses or requesting documents- unlike similar reports have done in the past. (For example, the Commissioner interviewed multiple witnesses in the Fonberg Report and the Clement Report before deciding not to open an examination),” he said.
Nowak said TekSavvy is now focused on its appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal regarding the CRTC chair’s apparent bias and has faith in the court system. “We also intend to return this complaint to the federal Integrity commissioner, who referred it to Conflict of Interest in the first place,” he said.
“This serious breach of procedural fairness and of CRTC’s own internal rules is evident to anyone looking at the photo of Scott and Bell CEO Mirko Bibic having beers privately at a pub, and Cabinet has previously dismissed a CRTC commissioner for far less. We’re confident the courts will come to the same conclusion.”
For the full report from the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, please click here.
Photo of Scott and Bibic’s meeting was previously provided to Cartt.ca by TekSavvy.
