OTTAWA – A former director-general of spectrum management at Innovation, Science and Economic Development who allegedly accepted a lucrative consulting role with BCE may have violated the Feds’ postemployment conflict-of-interest rules.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail (subscription required), Peter Hill played a key role in Ottawa’s wireless strategy for years, including in the eventual sale of wireless startup Mobilicity – and most of its spectrum – to Rogers in 2015. He also signed a February, 2017, letter approving a transfer involved in BCE’s takeover of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., according to documents obtained in an access-to-information request filed by The Globe.
The report alleges that Hill also accepted a “million-dollar” consulting role with BCE Inc. while still employed by the federal government, though a BCE spokesperson quoted in the article says that the contract did not take effect until after Hill had retired from federal civil service.
Ottawa’s conflict-of-interest rules for public servants require employees to disclose any plans for postemployment work that might “pose a risk of real, apparent or potential conflict of interest" before leaving a government job, continues the article.
