Nunavut MP places consultancy firm in trust
Lori Idlout says she made decision voluntarily
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, seen in a file photo, says her decision to place her ownership stake in NVision Insights Group in a trust was made voluntarily. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has distanced herself from her stake in an Indigenous management consultancy firm that has received $1.5 million in federal contracts since her election five years ago.
To do so, she created a trust for the firm — a legal arrangement that can hold an asset while a politician is in public office. The politician will not receive an income from that asset, nor can they sell it.
“The reason that I created the trust agreement is so that I could separate myself from what’s going on with NVision,” Idlout said at an event in Iqaluit Tuesday morning.
“I did it voluntarily. It was something that I chose to do because of scrutiny I was receiving from certain other parties.”
Idlout did not say who this scrutiny was coming from, and did not answer any more questions.
Idlout filed the disclosure of her stake in NVision Insight Group and the resulting trust July 16 to the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, according to the commissioner’s registry.
This was three months after she left the NDP in mid-March to join the Liberal party, which — along with several other MP floor crossings and byelections over the past year — helped Prime Minister Mark Carney achieve a majority government.
Since September 2021, NVision has received 18 contracts. Of those, two came after she crossed the floor, with the most recent one — dated July 3 and worth $165,000 — being the most expensive since her election.
Nunatsiaq News reached out to the ethics commissioner and Bob Zimmer, the Conservative critic for Northern Affairs, but did not receive a response on Tuesday morning.
— With files from Mosha Folger
So for 5 years she profiled from contracts given to NVision from the federal government while sitting as an MP. And now she puts her portion in a trust and she seems pround of her decision. The rot in government runs deep.
she had no say in contract given out! Like any other MP!
….and she was an opposition MP for all those years.
Is anyone surprised about this? I mean really? This is not about party politics. It is about individual integrity and credibility. Reading this article, it is clear that Mrs. Idlout has very little of either. Waited 5 years to take action on something she directly benefitted from! Yeah, sure that makes all the sense in the world.
It shouldn’t matter who one votes for or what party you prefer. This type of thing should be called out by everyone.
She is a lawyer, she can make her own decisions on anything she wants. She knows the advantages of being a lawyer and she would do as you would …but not cross the line like she did which irritated her constituents .education pays as I see it fit for her position.
Why didn’t she do this when she was running the first time? Zero trustworthiness.
“I did it voluntarily. It was something that I chose to do because of scrutiny I was receiving from certain other parties.”
No, it’s because the ethics commissioner called you out. Of course the other parties are gonna call you out. Why wait 5 years to finally create the trust fund?
And you thought she was “working hard” for you,lol
Strange that our MP only distances herself from her consultant firm now that she is a Liberal. It seems even when our MP was a New Democrat, her Political Party took a very dim view on outside for-profit consultants undermining the public sector:
February 13th, 2023
New Democrats pass motion to expand investigation into McKinsey contracts and reckless government outsourcing NDP Public Services and Procurement critic Gord Johns made the following statement in reaction to an NDP motion to expand the investigation of outsourcing government work successfully passing on Monday:
“For years we have seen an over-reliance on costly outsourcing, and this is bad for everyone. The more than $100 million given to McKinsey is just one of the most recent examples. I’m happy to see that Canadians are finally going to get some real answers and transparency on both the Liberal’s and Conservative government’s close relationship with these huge corporations. Canadians deserve to know that when their government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars, that it’s to get them the best services and programs possible – not to line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy.
With this NDP-led initiative, private for-profit companies who’ve received even more public money than McKinsey contracts will be looked into, this includes Deloitte, KPMG, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Accenture, and Ernst & Young.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen that when Liberals are in power, they give giant contract to their insiders. And when the Conservatives are in power, their friends get giant contracts. Canada has one of the best public services in the world, so Canadians deserve to know why it is the Liberals and Conservatives would rather give money to rich companies instead of making sure people get the best services possible. Government outsourcing should be a last resort, not the first call the government takes to deliver services.
Canadians get better value when programs and services are delivered by members of the public service, not costly outside consultants. With today’s motion from the NDP, we are going to take the opportunity to keep getting to the bottom of this pattern of reckless outsourcing to expensive consultants, so that you know you’re getting the best programs possible.”
just resign..stop ripping off the taxpayer..it goes from purchasing carvings using taxpayers dollars from your own business to now this..and not to mention your floor crossing ..just resign..just going get worse for you if u stay..not to mention for Nunavut..