MLA Arseneault's controversial new job provokes plan to toughen conflict law

Premier Brian Gallant's Liberal government now says it is willing to toughen the conflict of interest law for MLAs, possibly to prohibit circumstances like those now engulfing Campbellton-Dalhousie MLA Donald Arseneault.

Arseneault has been under fire for accepting alobbying job with Canada's Building Trades Union while remaining a Liberal MLA in Gallant's caucus.

Arseneault, who was shuffled out of cabinet Sept. 5 and is not running in next year's election, has said he will supervise and advise the union's two staff lobbyists but won't do any lobbying himself.

But that and the fact his new job doesn't violate the law has failed to quell the outrage.

Amendments possible

Attorney-General Serge Rousselle signalled for the first time Tuesday that the Liberals will consider amending the Members Conflict of Interest Act.

"The government agrees with the opposition that the law needs to be strengthened," he said. "We are ready to start the conversation right away."

Asked if that might include preventing a repeat of the Arseneault controversy, Rousselle said it was possible that "certain actions that are not clearly prohibited now would be in the future."

He said the Liberals are willing to get a bill introduced and passed in the current session of the legislature, which will be the last session before an election next September.

"We are willing to work as fast as we can."

Deleted tweet

Arseneault, who was not doing interviews Tuesday, tweeted a response to CBC about Rousselle's comments, then deleted it.

"They are willing to fast track and work with opposition but not with me," Arseneault wrote. "Imagine!"

Progressive Conservative MLA Ted Flemming called Rousselle's comments "great" and said the first priority should be plugging "a hole in [the law] that you could throw an elephant through."

• Arseneault releases lobbying advice from integrity commissioner

The law bans a former MLA from lobbying the government for a year after they leave office. But there's no ban against an MLA who stays in office taking a lobbying job.

The Liberals passed amendments to the conflict act earlier this year but they didn't affect those provisions.

Toughen up law

In June, Integrity Commissioner Alexandre Deschnes said the law needed to be toughened to apply to "apparent" conflicts of interest.

Victor Boudreau, when he was health minister, had recused himself from dealing with the Parlee Beach contamination issue because he had an investment in a proposed campground nearby.

Deschnes had told Boudreau that while he wasn't in a conflict under the law, there was an "unavoidable" perception of a conflict.

RoussellesaidDeschnes'sproposal is "part of the conversation we need to have."

• MLA Donald Arseneault rejects 'lobbyist' term for new Ottawa job

Flemming said he wasn't ready yet to suggest that change or others if the Liberals ask for his cooperation.

"I'd have to address my mind to it," he said. "I'd have to look at the original stuff. You have to make sure you are acting, not reacting. You have to think about the broad picture."

Inconsistent account

The Progressive Conservatives called out Arseneault in the legislature Tuesday for what they said were inconsistencies in his account of how he got the union job.

Last Friday, he said on CBC's Information Morning Fredericton that after the Sept. 5 cabinet shuffle, "I started exploring opportunities" for other jobs.

But later Friday, he told reporters he let Premier Brian Gallant know on Aug. 21 he had been approached about the union job. He provided a copy of an Aug. 22 letter in which Gallant put another minister, Bill Fraser, in charge of labour issues to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

But Arseneault tweeted a Labour Day message on Sept. 4.

"I want to thank all those who contribute to our workforce on this Labour Day," he wrote. "As Minister, I appreciate what you do for NB!"

Arseneault said Tuesday morning the phrase "as Minister" meant "as a cabinet minister," not "as labour minister," but he refused to do an interview about it.

The Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour said it has no documentation showing Fraser was acting as minister of labour between Aug. 22 and Sept. 4, other than a copy of Gallant's Aug. 22 letter to Arseneault about the transfer of authority.

Flemming said Tuesday that Gallant should expel Arseneault from the Liberal caucus and make him sit as an independent MLA.