{"id":11525,"date":"2020-02-05T06:08:56","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T11:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/?p=11525"},"modified":"2025-05-25T07:18:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T11:18:29","slug":"dominic-bartons-interests-conflict-with-canadas-best-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/dominic-bartons-interests-conflict-with-canadas-best-interests\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominic Barton\u2019s interests conflict with Canada\u2019s best interestsDominic Barton\u2019s interests conflict with Canada\u2019s best interests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethics law loopholes allow him to profit from his decisions and actions<\/span><\/h3>\n

Trudeau Cabinet should appoint an unbiased, experienced foreign service officer as Canada\u2019s Ambassador to China<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
Wednesday, February 5, 2020<\/p>\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Today, with Canada\u2019s new Ambassador to China Dominic Barton scheduled to testify this evening before the special House Committee on Canada-China relations<\/a>, Democracy Watch called on the Trudeau Cabinet to replace him with an experienced foreign service officer who doesn\u2019t have the financial conflicts of interest that Barton has.<\/p>\n\n

Because of disclosure rules in Canada\u2019s Conflict of Interest Act<\/em><\/a>, and other public disclosures, we know that investments of Mr. Barton and his spouse Geraldine Buckingham<\/a> in McKinsey & Company, and BlackRock Inc., combined with his spouse\u2019s work as BlackRock Inc.\u2019s Chair for the Asia Pacific region<\/a>, tie them into the interests of at least 22 of China\u2019s biggest 100 state-owned companies<\/a>, and generally with wealthy Chinese investors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton also has investments in four private equity funds<\/a>, including one located in the Cayman Islands<\/a>, and another with a Caymans connection that appears in the Offshore Leaks\/Paradise Papers Database<\/a>. Neither of these funds disclose the full list of their investments. The other two funds invest in companies in the healthcare, computer technology, biotechnology, financial services, China real estate, insurance, mining, food, chemicals, construction beauty and education sectors.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton and his spouse also have investments in Teck Resources Ltd., a Vancouver-based mining company that has the China Investment Corporation<\/a> as one of its biggest investors<\/a>. And he is invested in an American AI company called SparkCognition, and a Vancouver-based agricultural company called Terramera. Only three of his known investments are in Canadian companies.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton has not done anything to neutralize the effect his and his spouse\u2019s mostly foreign financial interests, and his spouse\u2019s work, will have on him as ambassador.<\/p>\n\n

He has placed some investments in a so-called \u201cblind trust\u201d<\/a> but he knows what\u2019s in the trust, and he chose and is allowed to give instructions to his trustee. He also has a so-called \u201cethics screen<\/a>\u201d but it doesn\u2019t prohibit him from participating in decisions if \u201cthe interest in the decision or matter is of general application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Almost all government decisions apply generally to many companies or industry sectors. As a result, Mr. Barton will be allowed to take part in almost all decisions even when he or his spouse or her clients could profit from the decision. His screen is also a smokescreen as it allows him to hide whether he actually removes himself from any decision-making processes.<\/p>\n\n

Instead of his unethical scheme, Mr. Barton should be required to do what Justice Parker recommended back in 1987<\/a> for all public officials \u2013 sell all investments he can sell, and remove himself from all decisions that affect any investments or interests he can\u2019t sell (such as his interest in McKinsey as the former head of the firm, and his spouse\u2019s work interests).<\/p>\n\n

That ethical arrangement would likely mean Mr. Barton would have to remove himself from so many decisions that he wouldn\u2019t be able to do his job.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDominic Barton\u2019s extensive, mainly foreign financial interests conflict with Canada\u2019s best interests, and his so-called blind trust and ethics screen are so full of loopholes they do nothing to prevent him from profiting from his decisions and actions as Canada\u2019s ambassador to China,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cThe federal government should replace him with an experienced foreign service officer who has no financial conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Beyond his investments, Mr. Barton has also often expressed admiration<\/a> for China\u2019s one-party government and its dictatorial President Xi Jinping, going as far as saying he has \u201cdrank the Kool-Aid.\u201d He is also currently defending himself in a lawsuit<\/a> alleging he hid McKinsey\u2019s conflicts of interest when he headed up the firm.<\/p>\n\n

The same loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act<\/em> that allow Mr. Barton to participate in and profit from his decisions as ambassador in secret allowed Finance Minister Bill Morneau to propose a bill<\/a> that would have profited him and his family\u2019s company. In the past 15 years, these loopholes have allowed about 20 other ministers and top government officials to take part in decisions from which they, their families or friends could profit.<\/p>\n\n

During this minority government, the House Ethics Committee should review the Conflict of Interest Act<\/em> and MP ethics code<\/a> (the last review was in 2013<\/a>), and MPs should finally close the loopholes<\/a>, strengthen enforcement and penalties.<\/p>\n\n

As the Supreme Court of Canada stated in a 1996 ruling<\/a>, to protect our democracy Canadian government officials must be \u201cheld to codes of conduct which, for an ordinary person, would be quite severe\u201d to ensure they avoid even the appearance that they are furthering their own or others\u2019 private interests.<\/p>\n\n

– 30 \u2013<\/p>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Ethics law loopholes allow him to profit from his decisions and actions<\/span><\/h3>\n

Trudeau Cabinet should appoint an unbiased, experienced foreign service officer as Canada\u2019s Ambassador to China<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
Wednesday, February 5, 2020<\/p>\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Today, with Canada\u2019s new Ambassador to China Dominic Barton scheduled to testify this evening before the special House Committee on Canada-China relations<\/a>, Democracy Watch called on the Trudeau Cabinet to replace him with an experienced foreign service officer who doesn\u2019t have the financial conflicts of interest that Barton has.<\/p>\n\n

Because of disclosure rules in Canada\u2019s Conflict of Interest Act<\/em><\/a>, and other public disclosures, we know that investments of Mr. Barton and his spouse Geraldine Buckingham<\/a> in McKinsey & Company, and BlackRock Inc., combined with his spouse\u2019s work as BlackRock Inc.\u2019s Chair for the Asia Pacific region<\/a>, tie them into the interests of at least 22 of China\u2019s biggest 100 state-owned companies<\/a>, and generally with wealthy Chinese investors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton also has investments in four private equity funds<\/a>, including one located in the Cayman Islands<\/a>, and another with a Caymans connection that appears in the Offshore Leaks\/Paradise Papers Database<\/a>. Neither of these funds disclose the full list of their investments. The other two funds invest in companies in the healthcare, computer technology, biotechnology, financial services, China real estate, insurance, mining, food, chemicals, construction beauty and education sectors.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton and his spouse also have investments in Teck Resources Ltd., a Vancouver-based mining company that has the China Investment Corporation<\/a> as one of its biggest investors<\/a>. And he is invested in an American AI company called SparkCognition, and a Vancouver-based agricultural company called Terramera. Only three of his known investments are in Canadian companies.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Barton has not done anything to neutralize the effect his and his spouse\u2019s mostly foreign financial interests, and his spouse\u2019s work, will have on him as ambassador.<\/p>\n\n

He has placed some investments in a so-called \u201cblind trust\u201d<\/a> but he knows what\u2019s in the trust, and he chose and is allowed to give instructions to his trustee. He also has a so-called \u201cethics screen<\/a>\u201d but it doesn\u2019t prohibit him from participating in decisions if \u201cthe interest in the decision or matter is of general application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Almost all government decisions apply generally to many companies or industry sectors. As a result, Mr. Barton will be allowed to take part in almost all decisions even when he or his spouse or her clients could profit from the decision. His screen is also a smokescreen as it allows him to hide whether he actually removes himself from any decision-making processes.<\/p>\n\n

Instead of his unethical scheme, Mr. Barton should be required to do what Justice Parker recommended back in 1987<\/a> for all public officials \u2013 sell all investments he can sell, and remove himself from all decisions that affect any investments or interests he can\u2019t sell (such as his interest in McKinsey as the former head of the firm, and his spouse\u2019s work interests).<\/p>\n\n

That ethical arrangement would likely mean Mr. Barton would have to remove himself from so many decisions that he wouldn\u2019t be able to do his job.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDominic Barton\u2019s extensive, mainly foreign financial interests conflict with Canada\u2019s best interests, and his so-called blind trust and ethics screen are so full of loopholes they do nothing to prevent him from profiting from his decisions and actions as Canada\u2019s ambassador to China,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cThe federal government should replace him with an experienced foreign service officer who has no financial conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Beyond his investments, Mr. Barton has also often expressed admiration<\/a> for China\u2019s one-party government and its dictatorial President Xi Jinping, going as far as saying he has \u201cdrank the Kool-Aid.\u201d He is also currently defending himself in a lawsuit<\/a> alleging he hid McKinsey\u2019s conflicts of interest when he headed up the firm.<\/p>\n\n

The same loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act<\/em> that allow Mr. Barton to participate in and profit from his decisions as ambassador in secret allowed Finance Minister Bill Morneau to propose a bill<\/a> that would have profited him and his family\u2019s company. In the past 15 years, these loopholes have allowed about 20 other ministers and top government officials to take part in decisions from which they, their families or friends could profit.<\/p>\n\n

During this minority government, the House Ethics Committee should review the Conflict of Interest Act<\/em> and MP ethics code<\/a> (the last review was in 2013<\/a>), and MPs should finally close the loopholes<\/a>, strengthen enforcement and penalties.<\/p>\n\n

As the Supreme Court of Canada stated in a 1996 ruling<\/a>, to protect our democracy Canadian government officials must be \u201cheld to codes of conduct which, for an ordinary person, would be quite severe\u201d to ensure they avoid even the appearance that they are furthering their own or others\u2019 private interests.<\/p>\n\n

– 30 \u2013<\/p>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethics law loopholes allow him to profit from his decisions and actions Trudeau Cabinet should appoint an unbiased, experienced foreign service officer as Canada\u2019s Ambassador to China FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Wednesday, February 5, 2020 OTTAWA \u2013 Today, with Canada\u2019s new Ambassador to China Dominic Barton scheduled to testify this evening before the special House Committee on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11525"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18482,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11525\/revisions\/18482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}