Latest news with #conflictofinterest
CBC
17 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Ethics investigation into Premier Danielle Smith adviser sought by environmental group
Environmental lawyers are asking Alberta's ethics commissioner to investigate an energy regulator board member and adviser to Premier Danielle Smith for possible conflicts of interest. The adviser, David Yager, also has his own oil and gas consulting company and has been awarded multiple sole-source government contracts to review industry rules and regulations since Smith became premier in 2022. Those contracts include hiring Yager to spearhead a strategy for how Alberta can deal with its nearly 80,000 inactive — but not reclaimed — oil and gas wells. Susanne Calabrese, a lawyer for Ecojustice, argues Yager's various appointments and roles put him at odds in crafting the strategy, which she says furthers industry interests over the public's. Energy Minister Brian Jean's office, responding to a request for comment sent to Smith's office, said in a statement the province contracted Yager for his valuable experience in the oil sector and his perspective on industry issues. "Mr. Yager has over 50 years of experience in upstream oil and gas and has been the founder, executive officer and director of three publicly traded oilfield service companies specializing in wellbore construction, completion, remediation, abandonment, production optimization, regulatory compliance and the physical protection of workers, assets and the community," said the statement. It also said all sole-source contracts awarded to Yager — which total more than $400,000 and are called into question in the request to the ethics commissioner — were above board and proper procedures were followed. Yager did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jean's office said in a followup statement Tuesday that Yager has not had any consulting contracts since he was awarded one with the ministry in 2023. It also said the ethics commissioner had approved Yager's compliance to conflict of interest rules regarding his regulator board membership. Jean's office added it would have an update in the fall on which recommendations from Yager's report would be acted upon. Yager's report was published in April and contains nearly two dozen recommendations, including having legislation create companies to take over inactive wells and use profits for cleanup efforts. Another suggests creating an industry-funded insurance program to cover liabilities related to closed wells. A draft version of the report, leaked to media in March, garnered significant criticism as it said this fund was to be "ultimately backstopped by taxpayers." When the final report was released, the wording was changed to say that the insurance program should be "managed" by the province. Critics like Calabrese say the strategy and its recommendations are more focused on sustaining the financial viability of oil companies than accelerating cleanup of Alberta's inactive and orphan wells, which are estimated to cost more than $860 million to reclaim. Calabrese, on behalf of a landowner with an orphan well on his property, formally asked on Tuesday for the ethics commissioner to determine if Yager's recommendations directly benefit companies he consulted for and if they go against his responsibility as a board member for the Alberta Energy Regulator, which operates at arm's length from government. "In our opinion, it's impossible to represent the interests of a partisan government as special adviser, an independent regulator as part of the board of the [regulator], private companies in his consulting work, and then represent the public in creating this strategy all at the same time," Calabrese said in an interview. "I hope that the ethics commissioner gives it the attention it deserves." Yager, a one-time Wildrose party president and fundraiser for Smith, played a key role in merging Alberta's competing conservative parties in 2017. Calabrese said the speed at which the government is moving on the recommendations is concerning and suggests the outcome of Yager's report was predetermined. "If you have a flawed process like this, you get a flawed product," she said. "It really undermines public trust."
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta landowner files conflict-of-interest complaint against Danielle Smith appointee
An Alberta landowner dealing with an orphan gas well on his property wants an investigation into an oil industry insider and advisor to Premier Danielle Smith. David Yager led the creation of a controversial strategy that would shift the burdens of oil and gas well clean up from industry to the public, while also working as an industry consultant. Yager is a long-time oil and gas industry insider who has worked as an executive for a handful of oilfield companies, including Tesco Corporation, which he founded. Yager's business website offers consulting services for the oil and gas service industry. At the same time, he is sitting on the board of the Alberta Energy Regulator and acting as a 'special advisor' to Premier Danielle Smith. The complaint, filed to the Ethics Commissioner by Ecojustice on July 22, alleges Yager's role in the creation of the controversial Mature Asset Strategy violated the Conflict of Interest Act. 'He can't have all those roles at the same time,' Susanne Calabrese, staff lawyer at Ecojustice, said in a phone interview with Canada's National Observer. 'In our opinion, it's impossible to represent the interests of a part of the government, an independent regulator, private companies and then the public, all at the same time.' Reached by phone, Yager declined to comment on the complaint. Canada's National Observer received an unattributed, emailed statement from the Office of the Minister of Energy and Minerals defending Yager's appointment. 'Mr. Yager has been contracted to work with the Government of Alberta based on the unique skills and experience he brings from a long career in the oil and gas sector, as well as the valuable perspective he brings to significant issues relating to the energy sector,' the statement read. It referenced his over 50 years of experience in upstream oil and gas and time as founder, executive officer and director of three publicly traded oilfield service companies 'specializing in wellbore construction, completion, remediation, abandonment, production optimization, regulatory compliance and the physical protection of workers, assets and the community.' The statement did not directly address the complaint, which at the time of correspondence had not yet been filed to the Ethics Commissioner. Ecojustice said the complaint is expected to be filed on Tuesday. 'We didn't know if it's leaking' Dwight Popowich has been fighting for nearly eight years to clean up an inactive, orphaned gas well on his property, about a quarter mile from his house. A few months ago he managed to get the well designated as an orphan well through the industry-funded Orphan Well Association, which is supposed to trigger a clean up process, but was told it will be 10 to 12 years before it is reclaimed. He filed the complaint almost four months after the strategy to deal with aging oil and gas infrastructure was released and widely criticized by landowner associations, environmental groups and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. 'How is this protecting my rights? It's like my rights are totally ignored as a landowner, as a taxpayer,' he told Canada's National Observer in a phone interview. 'When you sit on the Alberta Energy Regulator board you're supposed to be independent from government. Well, how is he independent from government and he's a special advisor to the premier at the same time?' Popowich said. Popowich said the well has thrown a wrench in his plans to sell the property because no one wants to buy a liability. And if the gas well on his property is leaking he would never be the wiser because it would be colourless and odorless and require someone with special equipment to detect. 'These are industrial sites. They have dangerous vapors coming off of them. Some of them are explosive, some of them are poisonous, some of them are both,' Popowich said. 'We didn't know if it's leaking, if it's safe.' Billions in liabilities Alberta is littered with defunct oil and gas wells. The Mature Asset Strategy estimated there are 274,215 well sites that have not been reclaimed. Of those, about 101,000 are classified as 'marginal,' meaning they currently produce very little oil or gas and are on the way out. Some are 'abandoned' and sealed off with concrete, while others are left unplugged and called 'orphaned' wells because no company is legally responsible for cleaning them up. Though estimates vary, the cost to deal with all these wells is astronomical. The Alberta Energy Regulator has clean-up billed at about $36 billion while a 2023 research paper from the School of Public Policy estimates current liabilities are at least $60 billion. To deal with the problem, Alberta commissioned the creation of the Mature Asset Strategy, led by Yager, which was developed through months of closed-door discussions with oil and gas companies and other stakeholders. Of the 98 participants consulted on the strategy, at least 50 participants were from the oil and gas industry, with another 10 participants referred to as technical and engineering. No participants from environmental groups or landowner or citizen groups are listed. Three were listed as Indigenous 'Ministries/Organizations/Representatives.' The Rural Municipalities of Alberta, which participated in the process, criticized the report as focusing too much on recommendations that benefit industry, with little regard for impacts on municipalities, landowners, the environment and the broader public interest. The recommendations are vague but there is a common 'narrative of lessening environmental standards,' Calabrese said. For example, one of the recommendations in the strategy suggested existing defunct oil and gas well sites could be outfitted with solar panels instead of undergoing full reclamation, saying this arrangement would deliver 'both environmental and economic benefits.' 'When we look at the whole process, we realize that the whole thing probably had a predetermined outcome before it was even started,' Popowich said. 'A flawed process, potentially tainted by conflicts of interest, leads to a flawed product,' Calabrese said. 'We're really concerned that the public did not get what they paid for with a Mature Asset Strategy because of all these conflicts of interest, and that's why we want the ethics commissioner to look into this matter.' 'This is their circus; this is their monkeys' All of this runs counter to the polluter pays principle, which states companies should bear the cost of cleaning up their messes, not taxpayers, Popowich said. Oil and gas companies are notorious for not paying taxes to municipalities and this is another key issue critics say was not adequately addressed in the strategy. Landowners like Popowich are supposed to be paid a land lease by the company operating on their land, but if a company goes bankrupt the payments stop and landowners have to apply to the government to receive the money. The result? Alberta taxpayers pay millions of dollars in these failed land lease payments, Calabrese said. 'This was created by the industry. This is their circus; this is their monkeys. We should have nothing to do with this,' Popowich said. Yager was hired to do this work, and previous work, through a series of four sole source contracts with the government of Alberta and the complaint asks the ethics commissioner to investigate this for possible violations of Alberta's procurement and sole course contract policy. Yager's website says he encouraged Smith to run for leadership of the Wildrose Party in 2009 and boasts he was the top fundraiser for her leadership bid that year. 'It's very interesting that after she was sworn into office only a few months later he's then had four back-to-back sole source contracts awarded,' Calabrese said. Yager's first contract in 2023 was $60,000 for 'Advisory Council on Alberta's Energy Future'; the report was never made public. Later that year he was awarded a $70,000 contract to complete a review of the AER. In 2024, he received $136,000 for 'Professional Services' and this year saw him awarded $156,000 for 'Advisory Services' thought to be related to the Mature Asset Strategy, according to the Ecojustice complaint. If the ethics commissioner decides to investigate Popowich's complaint it will eventually submit a report with its findings to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly with recommendations on what should happen next, Calabrese explained. By Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Telegraph
Sex, alcohol and bad language: The Welsh cathedral that showed how not to run a place of worship
When Rhys Evans then applied to train as a priest, it was John who ensured he was accepted. And then in 2021, when Rhys Evans was hardly out of theological college, John named him Sub-Dean of the Cathedral, in charge – among other things – of its money. Many voiced concerns at the time that Rhys Evans had a conflict of interest in overseeing both the finances of the cathedral and the diocese. The two had to be separate. The Charity Commission seems to agree with them. It is now examining allegations that money given to support the diocese was used to buy expensive new seating for the cathedral at an estimated cost of between £200,000 and £400,000. Some congregation members the Telegraph spoke to say that the sub-dean was not a universally popular figure in the cathedral, though some point to his achievements in boosting congregations at set-piece liturgies, such as the Christmas Eve service. Others who have spoken to the Telegraph describe him as clique-ish, and claim they were excluded from decision-making in what they regarded as 'their cathedral'. Allegedly, their views were ignored and their hard work, usually as volunteers, to keep it running was taken for granted. Rhys Evans is alleged to have 'hand-picked' members of the choir who went on a trip to Rome in 2023, the Telegraph has been told, leaving behind those who had questioned his judgements. They did not get to enjoy the smart hotels that were preferred to pilgrim hostels nor the taxis that felt more appropriate than shoe-leather for getting around the city. According to a source in the Bangor Diocese, the final bill for the visit is believed to have come to over £20,000. Taken alongside the prosecco that was regularly served at the most minor event in the cathedral, more sober voices in the congregation were asking increasingly loudly if this was a suitable use of the money put on the plate each week. It took Archbishop John a long time to hear them but, when he did, he commissioned both a formal 'visitation' (inspection) of the life of the cathedral, and a safeguarding review from an independent agency. These are the two reports that are now being kept secret. The archbishop seems to have seen through his protégé long before either report landed on his desk. Whatever faith in Rhys Evans he once had had and maintained for over a decade, it was apparently now lost as he put him on gardening leave. Some in the congregation are happy to speculate why it took so long but they provide no evidence. Rhys Evans – who lists his interests on his X account as 'spirituality, religion, gender and Italian greyhounds' – resigned in December 2024 to take up a job as bursar at Westminster College, a United Reform Church establishment in Cambridge. He left there in May after his probation period. So, what will happen now the two principals in the drama have exited stage right? In matters financial, the Charity Commission, when it completes its investigation, has substantial powers if it has found evidence of improper behaviour. Some are even asking for police involvement around the allegations of misuse of funds. Rev Professor McPhate has a wider concern, namely that 'an injustice' may be being done 'to any persons who have been damaged by what went on, and to those who faithfully have given their money to the Church, trusting that it would be used appropriately and wisely'. There is a risk that Bangor Cathedral's bruised congregation will vote with its feet and leave its community. But he also adds a note of caution about the rumours created by the archbishop's sudden resignation. In his eight years worshipping at the cathedral, he says, 'I have never witnessed any culture of alcohol abuse or sexual promiscuity to which the [safeguarding] report makes reference. If true, the reference must allude to extramural behaviour by specific individuals, of which I know nothing.' Writer Tim Wyatt, whose The Critical Friend substack covers Anglican affairs, sees in the whole saga a 'resonance' with the departure of Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, in January. Neither leader came out well from independent reports into their conduct (Welby around his links to John Smyth whose abuse of children went unchallenged and unpunished). Both then tried to hang on despite the findings, presenting themselves implausibly as the solution not the problem. And both finally resigned with little good grace. 'Neither were bad people,' says Wyatt, 'and both made a series of bad decisions and paid heavily for them.' Is there, then, a problem with the selection process for senior leadership roles in the Church that needs addressing? Rev Dr Mark Clavier, Canon Theologian for the diocese of Swansea and Brecon, believes that this whole episode highlights a worrying trend. 'I've served in ministry for three decades in the US, England and Wales, and I've rarely known clergy and congregations to feel more fatigued than now. That's partly down to the Church's structures and leadership that don't always feel responsive or participatory.' But he goes further. 'Culture is the common thread between the various crises we've seen. Their frequency – and the way they've sometimes been handled – have reinforced a sense that decision-making is too closed and too centralised, with key choices made by a small circle without enough wider involvement. That's not healthy for any church.'
National Post
4 days ago
- Business
- National Post
'What is a conflict of interest, anyway?' The imagined thoughts of Mark Carney's ethics disclosures
The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner has released the full details of Mark Carney's asset disclosures, and they reveal a prime minister who appears to be more constrained by conflicts of interest than any other. Article content Carney's years of helping to oversee the trillion-dollar portfolio of Brookfield Asset Management gave him an equity stake over dozens of companies whose fortunes are likely to be directly impacted by the policies of his government. Article content Article content And so, the Ethics Commissioner has accepted a complex arrangement wherein any time one of 103 Carney-linked companies comes up in cabinet discussions, he's supposed to leave the room while declaring that he's doing so. Article content Article content But no, it turns out that all these assets were seen as a liability. A bad thing. The commissioner was prejudicially assuming that just because Mr. Carney happened to own substantial shares of a few dozen companies, this was itself evidence that he would use his public influence for personal gain. For shame, I say. Look within your heart, Canada. An intelligent, beautiful man volunteers to be your prime minister and your first impulse is to assume that he must only be doing it for selfish reasons? Article content Article content Article content What is a conflict of interest, anyway? Mr. Carney is a bipedal mammal who requires oxygen for cellular respiration. Does that put him at a 'conflict of interest' if he takes pro-oxygen positions in public life? Article content I have known Mr. Carney to ride inside automobiles manufactured by Mercedes, Lexus and, if he's slumming it, Volkswagen. Does that put him at a 'conflict of interest' when it comes to foreign relations with the respective governments of Germany and Japan? Article content By your logic, surely his appreciation of the elegant and responsive interior of the 2025 E-class would instantly transform him into a Manchurian candidate loyal only to the whims of Mercedes-Benz AG and the Chancellor of Germany, in that order. Article content Perhaps your next ethical disclosure should uncompromisingly litigate everything that has ever given Mr. Carney joy or satisfaction of any kind. Did he once enjoy a matinee screening of Ladri di biciclette? Watch out; because that surely means he'll sell us out to Italy at the first opportunity.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lloyd Howell's resignation is a first step toward NFLPA getting its act together before next CBA negotiation
Very rarely does the public get a look at the inner workings of professional sports leagues and their labor negotiations. Thanks to an initial report by Pablo Torre on his podcast "Pablo Torre Finds Out," detailing an arbitration case that showed potential evidence of collusion from NFL team owners against guaranteed player salaries, a surge in reporting surrounding the NFLPA has shown how stained the top of the union appears to be. It's very clear that a union in this state can't function in the best interests of its players, and the conflicts of interests at the top of the union are really breathtaking. The crux of the recent reporting has been centered on executive director Lloyd Howell, who officially resigned his position on Thursday night. Howell was elected as the executive director of the NFLPA in June of 2023, and thus had the daunting challenge of uniting and representing the players as they negotiate with league franchise owners for years to come in regards to collective bargaining agreements. ESPN unearthed the rather startling fact that Howell has a second job: working as a consultant for Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that's been approved by the league to seek minority ownership in NFL teams. Essentially, the executive director of the NFLPA has a second job that involves investing in ownership stakes of NFL teams. No need to mince words here: That's a startling conflict of interest that's easy to see. On Thursday, new reporting came to light that Howell faced a sexual discrimination and retaliation lawsuit while at a consulting group in 2011, and that fact may have been hidden from NFLPA members as they voted to elect Howell two years ago. Howell was chosen by a select group of 11 players. There were concerns over whether Howell's election process was constitutional by the union's standards in regards to how much time player representatives were given to vote after receiving the names. Ex-union president J.C. Tretter eventually put out a statement explaining the process and saying the NFLPA complied with their constitution and followed the correct voting procedures. But the shroud of confusion over the process was an alarming instance of seemingly unnecessary levels of secrecy — which became a theme that boiled over into the mess the union has today. ESPN also reported last month that the NFLPA and NFL owners agreed to keep the results of their arbitration regarding collusion against player salaries confidential. Even from the players themselves. While the ruling went in the NFL's favor because there wasn't "a clear preponderance" of evidence that teams actually colluded, arbitrator Christopher Droney also said that there was "little question" the NFL encouraged teams to reduce guarantees in veterans' contracts following the Browns' historic deal for Deshaun Watson in 2022. Withholding that from the players themselves, a few of whom were actively seeking out new deals, is antithesis to the normal functions of a union. The selection of Howell, the sealing of the arbitration results, being unfazed by Howell's part-time job with the Carlyle Group — none of those were the actions of a healthy union with the players' interests at the core of its cause. And now, Howell is out. There are still a couple years before CBA negotiations will get intense going into 2030, but the way things are right now it's hard to believe that the NFLPA will actually be organized enough to stand tall against ownership, assuming that's even a goal. If the NFLPA can't even represent the highest-paid players in the league with fervor, what is going to happen to everyone else down the food chain when money issues are tightly contested with ownership? No one is ever going to say that running the NFLPA is easy, but the reporting that's been laid out shows an institution that needs to make a heftier effort toward effective representation. A strong union is imperative for the health of the league because there is no NFL without the players who populate it. It's impossible to have a combative, strong backbone for a group like this with the level of secrecy and working in the shadows going on. That's something that's important for everyone who loves the functionality of this league to remember — from fans to journalists and the union itself.
