Watchdog slams former grain commissioner for post-employment ethics violations

The federal ethics watchdog says a former acting head of the Canadian Grain Commission took improper advantage of his public office when he went to work for one of the country's largest grain-handling companies.

Ethics commissioner Mario Dion says Jim Smolik broke two post-employment provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act that governs the conduct of people who hold public offices.

The act stipulates that a person may not ever act in a manner that takes improper advantage of their previous public office and it imposes a cooling-off period of one year, during which a former office-holder is barred from making representations on behalf of anyone to any department, board, commission or tribunal with which they had direct, significant dealings during their last year in public office.

Yet within a few weeks of leaving the grain commission to become Canadian head of corporate affairs for Cargill Ltd. in November 2016, Dion says, Smolik became involved in efforts to resolve a dust problem at the company's grain terminal in Sarnia, Ont.

Cargill, which was facing potentially significant fines under the provincial Environmental Protection Act. wanted permission from the commission to use white mineral oil to suppress the dust.

Dion says Smolik "exploited his previous public office" to facilitate Cargill's access to the grain commission and to "shepherd" the company through a process that ultimately led to the commission agreeing to grant Cargill an exemption to the prohibition on the use of mineral oil at grain terminals.

Indeed, Dion says the application for the exemption was drafted with Smolik's advice and was signed by Smolik.

"In my view, Mr. Smolik was more than willing to assist his employer in any manner despite the post-employment advice he had received from this (the ethics commissioner's) office," Dion wrote in a report released Thursday.

"In my view, Mr. Smolik took improper advantage of the relationships he had established while at the commission, as well as the knowledge and expertise he had acquired while in public office."

The commission is a federal agency that regulates grain-handling in Canada and certifies the quality, safety and quantity of grain exports. Smolik was appointed as assistant chief commissioner in 2007 by the previous Conservative government, which twice renewed his three-year term. He became acting chief commissioner in January 2016, before leaving to join Cargill in November of that year.

Dion also took Smolik to task for initially denying any significant involvement in the dust issue and related interactions with the grain commission.

"I found Mr. Smolik's version of events to be inconsistent with the information contained in the documentation submitted by both Cargill and the commission," Dion wrote.

"In fact, many of the relevant documents which were either authored by Mr. Smolik or addressed to him directly showed a level of involvement in the Sarnia terminal's dust issue that was far greater than Mr. Smolik had initially led me to believe. I also found Mr. Smolik to be less than forthcoming with his answers to questions relating to these documents during his second interview, including why he had not produced the documents himself."

Dion says it is up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "to decide on any further potential action" against Smolik.