 |
|
“On July 10, 2008, I referred
matters to the conflict of interest commissioner that were brought to my
attention by the auditor general regarding potential conflict of interest
concerns. At that time, I committed to making the commissioner’s opinion
public.
“On Sept. 17, I received that
opinion, which concludes that there was no conflict of interest and no
perception of conflict of interest in my decisions as minister of forests and
range to transfer forest tenure in April 2006 and to allow private lands to be
removed from tree forest licenses in January 2007.
“In his opinion, the commissioner states:
‘It is significant that from the outset of his career as Minister of Forests
and Range, Minister Coleman triggered the well developed machinery of conflict
of interest and apparent conflict of interest prevention set forth in section
11 of the Act. He accessed and
followed the advice from the then Conflict of Interest Commissioner. In my
view, the Minister was careful throughout to properly insulate his ministerial
responsibilities from allegations of apparent conflict of interest.’
“Commissioner
Fraser concludes: ‘... a reasonably well informed person would not
reasonably perceive that the Minister’s decisions … must have been affected by
his brother’s employment with either company.’
“I would like to thank the commissioner for hearing from me as to the facts of this matter and for the diligent and detailed work he undertook during his review. I have always tried to act in good faith as a minister of the Crown and I will continue to do so in the future.”
-30-
The conflict of interest commissioner’s opinion is available online at:
www.gov.bc.ca/oci/opinion_default.htm
|
|
||
|
For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
||
