Conflict-of-interest screens for public officials are common, but the one Finance Canada has implemented to accommodate deputy finance minister Michael Sabia’s seat on the board of the Mastercard Foundation is unusually broad, said Ian Stedman, a government-accountability and ethics expert and assistant professor at York University.

Top civil servant sits out big file: As The Logic reported Wednesday, Finance Canada has a screen in place to prevent Sabia from being made aware of any file related to the charitable sector because of his seat on the board of Canada’s largest one, and other charitable board seats held by his wife, Hilary Pearson. Finance is running consultations into the possibility of raising the minimum rate at which charities and foundations must give money away, which could unlock funds that have grown 70 per cent over five years to $100 billion as spending rates have declined.

Screen ‘not required’: In an email, Finance spokesperson Kevin Maillet said the screen was “not required by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner but was instituted at Mr. Sabia’s request.” Jocelyne Brisebois, spokesperson for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, said she was unable to clarify whether that meant commissioner Mario Dion would have been fine with Sabia actively participating in charitable-sector files, saying she couldn’t comment on individual cases. 

However, Stedman said Sabia would be in a clear conflict of interest without the screen: “I’d have a hard time believing that he wouldn’t have required it had they not been proactive.”

Big board seat, big file, big screen: The screen leaves Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland without a top civil servant to give her advice on a major file. The charitable sector represents 8.5 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product and employs 2.4 million people.

With the words “charity,” “charities” and “charitable” appearing a combined 87 times in the federal budget, complying with the screen while drafting it would not have been easy. Asked how Sabia can do his job under these circumstances, Jessica Eritou, a spokesperson for Freeland, said, “There are many extremely capable public servants in the Department of Finance who provide advice on a variety of files, including the charitable sector.”

NDP speaks out: Peter Julian, an NDP MP who was finance critic in the last Parliament, said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh “will pressure the Liberal government to require foundations to pay their fair share,” saying the Liberals’ failure to increase the minimum giveaway rate is an example of putting the interests of the wealthy ahead of regular Canadians. The Conservatives, who proposed raising that minimum rate to 7.5 per cent in their platform in the last election, did not respond to a request for comment.