Former PC minister hopes party learns from conflict-of-interest ruling on 'egregious actions'

An ex-Manitoba cabinet minister welcomes an ethics commissioner's findings that former Tory colleagues, including the one-time party leader and premier, violated the province's conflict-of-interest law and should be fined.

"I thank the ethics commissioner for his thorough investigation and report. I hope lessons are heeded from his wise counsel, and the egregious actions outlined in his report are never repeated," Rochelle Squires told CBC News in an email.

"Politicians are rightfully held to higher moral and ethical standards; everyone loses when our elected officials don't adhere to these principles."

Squires, who held several cabinet portfolios during her time as Progressive Conservative MLA for the south Winnipeg riding of Riel from 2016 to 2023 — including a brief tenure as deputy premier — lost her seat in the October 2023 election when the NDP regained power in Manitoba and formed a majority government.

She previously decried her former party's actions as "unconventional and unconscionable."

In a 100-page report released Wednesday, ethics commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor said then-premier Heather Stefanson, deputy premier Cliff Cullen and economic development minister Jeff Wharton acted improperly by pushing for the approval of a mining project after the Tories lost the 2023 election.

Sio Silica had, when Stefanson's party was still in power, proposed to drill as many as 7,200 wells in southeastern Manitoba over 24 years in an effort to extract up to 33 million tonnes of ultra-pure silica sand.

Days after the PCs' loss and before the new NDP government was sworn in, the three Tories tried to get the Alberta mining company's project approved, Schnoor wrote.

Their actions violated the Conflict of Interest Act and contravened the caretaker convention, a long-standing parliamentary principle that forbids outgoing governments from making major decisions, Schnoor wrote.

The conflict first came to light after Squires and Kevin Klein, another PC cabinet minister who lost his seat in October 2023, said they were called by Wharton after the election and pressured to award the project an environmental licence. They both said they refused because of the caretaker convention.

The NDP government rejected the project in February 2024, citing the potential impact on drinking water, among other concerns.

Cullen and Stefanson have both since left politics, but Wharton is still a PC MLA for Red River North. He denied trying to push the project through in December 2023, saying he was simply gathering information about the mining project to pass on to the incoming government.

On Wednesday, in a written statement, Wharton apologized for any conduct that "was found to fall short of my parliamentary obligations or personal standard of ethics."

In her email to CBC News, Squires said she has not spoken to Wharton but is pleased that he apologized.

"Change begins with accountability," she wrote.

Current PC Leader Obby Khan, who was a cabinet minister under Stefanson, accepted Schnoor's findings but said there needs to be more clarity on what can be done under the caretaker convention.

Brandon University political science Prof. Kelly Saunders said the rules are clear and Stefanson, Cullen and Wharton knew them.

"These are seasoned politicians. The caretaker convention is straightforward," she said. "I explain it to my second-year students and they understand it. It's not that complicated. It's a straightforward issue that makes sense."

It's also not something new for which a minister could be excused for not being aware.

"The caretaker convention is a really well-established, well-respected, long-standing principle of the Westminster parliamentary system and has been with us ever since Canada officially became a country," Saunders said.

PC leader 'missing an opportunity'

Stefanson, in a written statement from her lawyer on Wednesday, said she reached out to the incoming NDP government and fully considered their views before deciding what to do, and ultimately, no licence was issued to Sio Silica.

Schnoor thought differently, Saunders said.

"If we go by his findings or his conclusions, certainly the former premier did way more than simply reach out to the NDP," she said.

"She along with two former high-profile MLAs and cabinet ministers … not only were talking to the NDP, but they were also pressuring, it appears, some of their own caucus members."

Saunders is not only disappointed with Stefanson's response; she feels Khan's also fell short.

"There was a moment there where he could have really owned the issue as the new leader. He has to take responsibility for actions of his party, even though he was not the premier at the time," she said.

"People are human and make mistakes, but it's the lack of accountability and taking responsibility from politicians, I think, that really frustrates voters.

"With the PC party really trying to reboot themselves with the new leader  … they're really missing an opportunity here to show Manitobans that they are new and different and moving forward. This is just going to continue to dog them, I think."