The B.C. legislature’s ethics watchdog has ruled that an NDP cabinet minister did not break the conflict of interest law after a charity that bought her husband’s land received a major government grant.
“Minister Osborne was not involved in the decision to make the grant to MakeWay […] and did not take any steps to influence staff in making that substitution,” Conflict of Interest Commissioner Victoria Gray wrote in her Aug. 30 decision. “Minister Osborne’s participation in the public announcement on April 21 about the [Healthy Watersheds Initiative] 2.0 grant to MakeWay was not an apparent conflict of interest.
Osborne was Tofino’s mayor in August 2020 when Patterson listed the property for $3.75 million. She became minster of Municipal Affairs after the 2020 provincial election, joined Treasury Board in March 2021 and was shuffled to the new ministry on Feb. 25. March 30 was also the date that Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment James Mack signed the funding agreement with MakeWay CEO Joanna Kerr and finance director Danae Maclean.