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Liberal MP Greg Fergus stands throughout query interval within the Home of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2022.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The federal ethics commissioner says Liberal MP Greg Fergus breached the Battle of Curiosity Act by writing a letter to Canada’s broadcast regulator to assist a tv channel’s software for obligatory carriage.
The letter was submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Fee final 12 months to encourage required distribution of Natyf TV, which serves a multicultural francophone viewers, as a part of digital primary companies.
Fergus, who represents the Quebec using of Hull-Aylmer, can also be parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, and he has served as head of the Liberal Black Caucus.
The Canadian Press got here throughout Fergus’s letter throughout a routine examination of filings with the CRTC final fall.
In a ruling immediately, battle of curiosity and ethics commissioner Mario Dion says Fergus sought to improperly additional Natyf’s personal pursuits as a result of he intervened within the decision-making technique of a quasi-judicial tribunal.
Dion says his workplace has beforehand established that ministers and parliamentary secretaries shouldn’t write letters of assist to quasi-judicial tribunals just like the CRTC, given their governmental roles and the affect they’ve.
