The Honourable J. David Wake, Integrity Commissioner, has filed his 2020-2021 annual report with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The report is available here.

The report gives an overview of the activity of the Office’s mandates, including anonymized examples of advice provided to Members of Provincial Parliament and ethical direction provided to ministers’ staff. Summaries of disclosure of wrongdoing cases under the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006 and completed investigations under the Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998 are also published in the report.

“While the pandemic has had an effect on certain aspects of our work, I am pleased to say that we continued to provide full services to all our stakeholders in all seven of the Office’s mandates,” said Commissioner Wake. “I am particularly proud that we have adapted and delivered 30 presentations and training events remotely to both public servants and lobbyists.”

Among the annual report highlights:
- the Office responded to 265 inquiries from MPPs about their ethical obligations under the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994;
- it handled 132 inquiries from ministers’ staff regarding ethical conduct, political activity and post-employment obligations;
- it responded to 198 matters under the public sector ethics mandate;
- 19 disclosures of wrongdoing were filed by public servants, and nine matters were investigated and concluded by the Commissioner;
- 89 Advisory Opinions were provided to lobbyists, and 18 investigations into lobbying non-compliance were concluded; and,
- staff reviewed 2,464 expense claims.

About the OIC
The Office has seven mandates under five pieces of legislation:
- Members’ Integrity, providing confidential conflict of interest advice to MPPs;
- Ministers’ Staff Ethical Conduct, providing conflict of interest advice to public servants in ministers’ offices;
- Lobbyists Registration, operating Ontario’s lobbyist registry and conducting investigations into matters of potential non-compliance;
- Disclosure of Wrongdoing, receiving whistleblowing disclosures from current and former Ontario public servants;
- Public Sector Ethics, providing conflict of interest advice and direction to certain public servants in public bodies and,
- Expenses Review:
   - Reviewing the travel, meal and hospitality expenses of Cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, Opposition leaders, and their staff; and,
   - Reviewing the travel, meal and hospitality expenses of selected agencies.

Ce communiqué est également disponible en français.


Contact:
Michelle Renaud
Manager, Communications and Outreach
michelle.renaud@oico.on.ca