National

Canada's first conflict of interest and ethic commissioner, Mary Dawson, dies

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 05 Jan, 2024 11:20 AM

Former conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson has died.

The commissioner's office posted a statement on its website today announcing it is saddened to learn of Dawson's death on Dec.24.

Dawson was nominated to the role in 2007 by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper and she served until 2018.

Before that she had a lengthy career as a federal bureaucrat, including as the associate deputy minister of the Justice Department.

During her tenure at that department she helped draft major pieces of legislation including the Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Canada Health Act and the Official Languages Act.

During her time as ethics commissioner Dawson made many rulings, but among her last was her explosive report that found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated conflict of interest rules by accepting a vacation on the Aga Khan's private island in the Bahamas in 2016.

The statement from the ethics commissioner's office says Dawson's legal expertise "laid the foundations for the way the conflict of interest regimes are administered."

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Extreme cold grips much of Eastern Canada

In scores of cities and towns, government and private agencies were scrambling to provide shelter for vulnerable people as the wind was expected to make the temperature feel like -40 C to -50 C in many areas.

Extreme cold grips much of Eastern Canada

Chinatown graffiti vandal arrested: VPD

Officers patrolling the neighbourhood arrested the vandal – a man in his 60s – Wednesday afternoon, after he allegedly wrote graffiti on a building near Abbott and West Pender Street, then tagged a sign near Main and Keefer Street.

Chinatown graffiti vandal arrested: VPD

Tom Clark to be Canada's envoy in New York City

Clark will be Canada's consul general in New York, putting him in charge of Ottawa's efforts to sow cultural and economic ties in the Big Apple, as well as in neighboring American states and in Bermuda.

Tom Clark to be Canada's envoy in New York City

Test requirement extended for travel from China

The government says it's concerned about reports of a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in China, and the lack of data available from China about potential variants that could be spreading through the country.

Test requirement extended for travel from China

Jan. home sales down 55% from year earlier: REBGV

The board says sales for the month totalled 1,022, a 55 per cent drop from the prior January. The number of homes that changed hands last month was also 42.9 per cent below the 10-year January sales average.

Jan. home sales down 55% from year earlier: REBGV

Man acquitted over 'automatism' stabbing of wife

In his decision, Justice Warren Milman outlines Perignon's difficulties with extreme pain from two separate motor vehicle accidents, leading to an opioid prescription described in the judgment as "dangerously high" and above a level that would be "fatal for someone naive to opioids."