On December 11, it was announced Mario Dion, chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, would replace Mary Dawson as Canada’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Dawson’s appointment as commissioner was to have ended in the summer of 2016, but her term had been repeatedly extended by the government.

The announcement was made in the House of Commons by Government House Leader Bardish Chagger. Dion’s appointment still needs to be confirmed by a vote of the House.

Besides administering the federal conflict of interest laws for public office holders and members of the House of Commons, the Office of the Conflict and Ethics Commissioner provides confidential advice to the prime minister about conflicts of interest and ethics issues.

Pictured: Incoming Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion.

On December 5, Elections Canada announced a by-election for the House of Commons will be held for the seat for Chicoutimi–Le Fjord (Quebec). The seat was vacated by MP Denis Lemieux, who announced his plan to resign in November for family reasons.

On December 4, Stéphane Perrault, Acting Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat was vacant. Canadian law requires the date of this by-election be announced between December 15, 2017, and June 2, 2018, which will signal the start of the by-election period.

On November 30, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the nomination of Nancy Bélanger as the next Commissioner of Lobbying.

Bélanger, if approved by the House of Commons and the Senate, will replace Karen Shepherd as the head of The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. Shepard currently occupies the position through term extensions following the expiration of Shepard’s seven-year term in June 2016.

Bélanger’s has previously held the position of General Counsel for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

On November 17, the 2017 Nunavut Leadership Forum will meet to select the speaker, premier, and members of the Executive Council. The selection will be made by secret ballot by all 22 Nunavut Legislative Assembly Members (MLAs), who were all recently elected this fall.

A vote for the speaker will be the first order of business, according to a press release by the Legislative Assembly’s Caucus. The Speaker-Elect will preside over the remainder of the proceedings, beginning with the election of the premier. Nominated candidates will be permitted to deliver formal speeches and MLAs who are not candidates will be permitted to ask questions.

The forum will be held in the Chamber of the Legislative Assembly, will be open to the public to observe from the Visitors’ Gallery, and will be televised live across the territory on local community cable stations and direct-to-home satellite services. The caucus has decided the Executive Council, also called the Cabinet, will consist of eight members (the premier and seven ministers).

The Legislative Assembly’s Caucus announced the date and format for the forum on November 14. The swearing-in ceremony for MLAs and the confirmations of the appointments will take place on November 21, the first sitting day of the 5th Legislative Assembly.

On October 30, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia banning corporate and union political contributions for local elections in the Canadian province. Bill 15, Local Elections Campaign Financing Amendment Act, 2017, was introduced by Municipal Affairs Minister Selina Robinson.

Among other related changes, the legislation also caps contributions from individual donors to $1,200 for the 2018 elections with contribution limits then indexed for inflation in sequent election years. If passed, the law would be in effect for British Columbia’s October 28, 2018, municipal elections and would be retroactive to October 31, 2017.

Today, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued a Legal Advisory memo explicitly stating the OGE’s view anonymous contributions to legal defense funds of federal employees are prohibited.

Legal Advisory LA-17-10 specifically refers to OGE Informal Advisory Opinion 93×21 (1993), which found employees who received anonymous donations would “be unable to favor the anonymous donors.” The new Legal Advisory memo acknowledges that shortly after the Informal Advisory Opinion was issued, the agency began “advising, and is continuing to advise, that the instruments establishing legal defense funds include a clause stating that ‘contributions shall not be accepted from anonymous sources.’”

The new memo reiterates the OGE’s position given in an interview by the head of the OGE with Politico earlier this month. The interview was made in reaction to an OGE note on the 1993 opinion that had been changed earlier this year to say the opinion’s original applicability had not changed.

Critics of the note change had said it opened the door up to lobbyists and other prohibited sources funding legal defenses for employees currently working in the White House.

On September 15, the head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) said in an interview with Politico anonymous contributions to legal defense funds of federal employees are prohibited. David Apol, the acting director of the OGE, told Politico the policy had not changed, even though the note on a guidance document had been changed earlier this year.

In 1993, the OGE issued an opinion letter holding a fund established for the benefit of a government employee to pay the employee’s legal expenses, while administered by a person having no connection with the employee’s official duties, could accept anonymous contributions. The OGE guidance letter is not legally binding.

Walter Shaub, then director of the OGE, instructed his staff in May of this year to add a one-sentence note to the top of the document signaling the OGE’s long standing internal practice had diverged from the formal guidance, according to Politico. The note read in all caps and a red font, “NOTE: SOME STATEMENTS IN THIS OPINION ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH CURRENT OGE INTERPRETATION AND PRACTICE.”

Subsequently, after Shaub left the OGE, the document’s note was changed to read, again in all caps and a red font, “NOTE: THE PRIMARY FINDING ABOUT THE LIMITED APPLICABILITY OF 18 U.S.C. §209 TO PAYMENTS MADE FOR AN EMPLOYEE’S LEGAL EXPENSES HAS NOT CHANGED. HOWEVER, BECAUSE EACH ANALYSIS IS VERY FACT-SPECIFIC, AGENCY ETHICS OFFICIALS SHOULD CONSULT WITH THEIR OGE DESK OFFICER BEFORE ADVISING EMPLOYEES ON THIS TOPIC.”

Critics of the note change had said this opens the door up to lobbyists and other prohibited sources funding legal defenses for employees currently working in the White House.

A change of a note regarding an Office of Government Ethics (OGE) guidance document from 1993 may open the door to allowing anonymous contributions, including from prohibited sources such as lobbyists, to government employees’ legal defense funds. In 1993, the OGE issued an opinion letter holding a fund established for the benefit of a government employee to pay the employee’s legal expenses, while administered by a person having no connection with the employee’s official duties, could accept anonymous contributions. The OGE guidance letter is not legally binding.

Walter Shaub, then director of the OGE, instructed his staff in May of this year to add a one-sentence note to the top of the document signaling the OGE’s long standing internal practice had diverged from the formal guidance, according to Politico. The note read in all caps and a red font, “NOTE: SOME STATEMENTS IN THIS OPINION ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH CURRENT OGE INTERPRETATION AND PRACTICE.”

Subsequently, after Shaub left the OGE, the document’s note was changed to read, again in all caps and a red font, “NOTE: THE PRIMARY FINDING ABOUT THE LIMITED APPLICABILITY OF 18 U.S.C. §209 TO PAYMENTS MADE FOR AN EMPLOYEE’S LEGAL EXPENSES HAS NOT CHANGED. HOWEVER, BECAUSE EACH ANALYSIS IS VERY FACT-SPECIFIC, AGENCY ETHICS OFFICIALS SHOULD CONSULT WITH THEIR OGE DESK OFFICER BEFORE ADVISING EMPLOYEES ON THIS TOPIC.”

Critics of the note change say this opens the door up to lobbyists and other prohibited sources funding legal defenses for employees currently working in the White House. Richard Lucas, once counsel for a Clinton legal defense fund, told Politico, “Not knowing the source is a recipe for disaster.”

On August 24, Minister of Public Services and Procurement Judy Foote announced her resignation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet. Foote will remain as a member of Parliament for the time being until the House of Commons resumes in September.

Since April, Foote, who represents Newfoundland and Labrador for the federal electoral district of Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, has been on leave for personal family medical reasons.

A video of Foote’s announcement of her resignation can be found here or viewed below.

On June 8, Quebec’s Commissioner of Lobbying François Casgrain, scheduled to retire this month, urged lawmakers to pass lobbying law reform.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Casgrain, who is leaving the position after eight years due to health reasons, is disappointed with the lack of progress in updating the lobbying laws. Casgrain has pushed for the passage of Bill 56, the Lobbying Transparency Act, which was first introduced in 2015. The legislation would expand the scope of the definition of lobbyists to include shareholders lobbying for an entity as well as directors and officers of a nonprofit. The bill would also expand the types of activity considered to be lobbying and impose stricter penalties and higher fines on violators of the law.

Casgrain will step down as Commissioner of Lobbying on June 30.

Members of Congress could be banned from being lobbyists for life if legislation introduced this month becomes law.

Senate Bill 1189, Close the Revolving Door Act of 2017, places a lifetime ban on current members of Congress from becoming lobbyists. Senators Michael Bennet, Cory Gardner, and Al Franken introduced the legislation, which also increases the statutory staff restrictions on lobbying from one year to six years.

Additionally, the bill bans lobbyists from joining Congressional staffs or committee staffs they lobbied for six years and increases the maximum penalty for violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

“Our legislation would put in place much-needed reforms-by not only banning members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, but also by making the industry become more accountable and transparent,” Franken said in a press release.

Today, the United States Supreme Court affirmed electioneering communication disclosure requirements under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA).

In Independence Institute v. FEC, the Supreme Court affirmed, without a written opinion, a lower court’s summary judgement against Independence Institute, a Colorado based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Independence Institute argued the BCRA’s disclosure requirements for electioneering communications were overbroad and violated the First Amendment.

Electioneering communication is defined as any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication referring to a clearly identified federal candidate, made within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general, special, or runoff election, and targeted to the relevant electorate.

On November 3, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had rejected the Independence Institute’s challenge to the BCRA’s electioneering communication provisions and granted the Federal Election Commission’s motion for summary judgment.

On July 8, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson will conclude her appointed position with Canada’s federal ethics agency. Dawson has chosen not to seek reappointment as commissioner, according to The Hill Times.

Some critics had argued the possibility of a reappointment could have influenced Dawson’s impartiality with inquiries into the current Liberal government. Her appointment was to have ended in the summer of 2016, but was twice temporarily extended by the Liberal government.

Besides administering the federal conflict of interest laws for public office holders and members of the House of Commons, the Office of the Conflict and Ethics Commissioner provides confidential advice to the prime minister about conflicts of interest and ethics issues.

On January 1, new changes to regulations concerning gifts for federal employees took effect.

Among the changes the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) made to the federal regulations include a non-binding recommendation employees “consider declining otherwise permissible gifts if they believe that a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts would question the employee’s integrity or impartiality as a result of accepting the gift.”

Additionally, federal officials who are required to be granted permission to attend “widely attended events” must now seek the permission in writing.

The $20 threshold for accepting a gift remains the same.