Rules for reporting public office holders

A compliance advisor assigned to you will walk you through the initial compliance process​ under the Conflict of Interest Act. It starts when you are appointed as a reporting public office holder.

Step 1

You must give the Commissioner’s Office detailed personal and financial information about yourself and your family. You have 60 days to fill out and submit a Confidential Report disclosing:

• Your assets (things you own) and your liabilities (debts you owe)
• The source and amount of all income that you received in the 12 months before your appointment or that you will receive in the next 12 months
• Your past or ongoing activities in the two years before your appointment, like jobs, and business or commercial activities
• Any benefits from a contract or subcontract with the Government of Canada that you, your family, or any private corporation you or your family have a stake in received in the last 12 months or might receive in the next 12 months

The Commissioner’s Office keeps most of this information private but makes some of it public (see Step 3 for details).

Step 2

Your advisor reviews your information and helps you determine what measures, if any, are required to avoid conflicts of interest.

The Commissioner might ask to meet with you and your family members to make sure you have shared all the necessary information, and to discuss in more detail your obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act.

Step 3

Your advisor prepares the public declarations you will need to make based on the information in your Confidential Report. These declarations will be posted on the public registry.

Your public declarations will not list “exempt” assets like open-ended mutual funds or primary and secondary residences and cars that are for your private, non-commercial use. But they will list other assets, like:

• “controlled assets” that you have divested (gotten rid of)
• any residence you own that generates income through a long-term lease or rental agreement
• any interest in a private corporation that does not hold controlled assets (even if the corporation is inactive)
• money owed to you under a mortgage or hypothec greater than $10,000
• any outside activities (activities that are not part of your official duties) that the Commissioner has reviewed and is letting you continue

• ​any matters the Commissioner has ordered you to recuse yourself from, and information about the process you or others have put in place to implement the recusal.

You must review, sign and send these public declarations back to the Commissioner’s Office, within 120 days after your appointment.

Step 4

When the Commissioner’s Office gets all your approved declarations, it posts them in the public registry, and the initial compliance process is over.

This shows you have met your initial reporting obligations under the Act.

Educational sessions offered by the Commissioner’s Office can help you understand these rules. Your advisor in the Commissioner’s Office can also help. Please call 613-995-0721 or send us an email.

You must meet ongoing reporting requirements during your whole time in public office.

If you miss reporting deadlines, or do not submit accurate and complete reports, you risk an administrative monetary penalty.

Annual review: Each year, you must review your disclosures with your advisor in the Commissioner’s Office and update your information as needed.

Material changes​: You must tell the Office about any material change, within 30 days. A material change is a change to any of the information in the Confidential Report that you filled out during the initial compliance process. Examples include:

• A change in marital status
• A new source of income
• Buying or selling an asset (property or investment)
• Taking on or paying off a debt
• A new volunteer activity

Gifts or other advantages: You must publicly declare any acceptable gifts or other advantages that you or your family members accept from any one source in a 12-month period with a total value of over $200. You must do that within 30 days after the day on which the value exceeds $200.

Travel: If you are a minister, you must publicly declare any travel on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft accepted for yourself, your family, or ministerial staff or advisers. You must do that within 30 days.

Recusals: If you have recused to avoid a conflict of interest, you must tell the Commissioner’s Office about the recusal as soon as possible. Except in limited circumstances, you must also publicly declare it within 60 days.

Firm offers of outside employment: You must tell the Commissioner’s Office about all firm offers of outside employment, within seven days after receiving them.

Acceptance of offers of outside employment: You must tell the Commissioner’s Office about any offer of outside employment you have accepted, within seven days. If you are a deputy head, you must also tell the Clerk of the Privy Council. In the case of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, you must tell the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons. In all other cases, you must tell the appropriate minister.

Every year, you must review with your advisor the personal and financial information you gave the Commissioner’s Office under the Conflict of Interest Act, and update it as needed.

This means going through all the information in the Confidential Report that you filled out during the initial compliance process and making any necessary changes.

The Commissioner’s Office will contact you to launch the review process.