The federal Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner cannot currently initiate investigations or issue reports on possible ethics breaches by public servants because it has no acting commissioner, a House of Commons committee heard on May 12.
Representatives from the office told the Commons Standing Committee on Ethics that a future commissioner could retroactively launch an investigation into a possible ethics-law violation up to five years after the office obtains information on the matter, but acknowledged that it would be ideal to have a new commissioner named “sooner rather than later.”
“The authority to initiate an investigation rests with the commissioner,” said Melanie Rushworth, the office’s communications director….