Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-Top Canada minister faces second ethics probe

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UPDATE 1-Top Canada minister faces second ethics probe Mar 27th 2012, 17:50 Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:50pm EDT * Prime minister defends Industry Minister Christian Paradis * Paradis stayed at lodge of man lobbying government * Minister's file includes Glencore bid for Viterra By Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren OTTAWA, March 27 (Reuters) - Canada's industry minister, who was found guilty of ethics violations last week, is being formally investigated for possible wrongdoing in a second case, the federal ethics watchdog said on Tuesday. Christian Paradis, who handles some of the government's most sensitive files, may be turning into a political problem for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who came to power in early 2006 promising more accountability in government. Paradis, a 38-year-old lawyer who first joined cabinet in June 2008, now faces accusations he behaved inappropriately on three different occasions. Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson said she was looking into allegations that Paradis - also the cabinet minister responsible for Quebec affairs - tried to move a government office into a building owned by an associate of his family in Quebec. "There is an opened investigation on that," she told the House of Commons ethics committee when asked about the case. Last Thursday, Dawson found Paradis had violated the Conflict of Interest Act by telling bureaucrats to set up a meeting with a former Conservative legislator who wanted to do business with Ottawa. A few hours before Dawson spoke on Tuesday, CTV News reported that Paradis had stayed in 2009 at the exclusive hunting lodge of businessman Marcel Aubut, who was lobbying the federal government at the time to help fund a C$400 million ($404 million) hockey arena in Quebec City. That report prompted Harper to defend Paradis for the second time in a week. "This was a private trip, and there is no link I'm aware of to any government business," he told a news conference in South Korea, where he was attending a summit on nuclear security. Opposition parties were not impressed. "I wonder if we're going to need a whole special investigations unit just to keep Mr. Paradis on the straight and narrow," said Charlie Angus of the New Democrats. The Liberals demanded that Dawson also investigate the CTV report. "There seems to be a disturbing pattern of cronyism and abuse of office emerging from Stephen Harper's minister of industry," said legislator Scott Andrews. Paradis is in charge of deciding whether to allow increased foreign investment in big telecommunications companies and currently is weighing whether to let Swiss-based Glencore International Ltd buy Viterra Corp, Canada's biggest grain handler, for C$6.1 billion. Paradis's office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on his stay at Aubut's lodge, but CTV television quoted the office as confirming Paradis had spent two nights at the lodge, though he took his own gear and supplied his own food. As it happens, Quebec authorities announced on Sunday that construction of the Quebec City arena would begin, with provincial and municipal subsidies - but no federal funds. Aubut used to head the Quebec Nordiques, a National Hockey League team that was sold in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche. He now heads the Canadian Olympic Committee. Committee spokesman Dimitri Soudas - formerly Harper's communications director - said Paradis's visit to the Aubut lodge "was strictly personal". Carl Vallee, a spokesman for Harper, said: "No lobbying occurred." Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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