June 18, 2021 - The Senate Ethics Officer (SEO) is pleased to inform that the Senate has amended the Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators (the Code).
Some of the more significant changes concerning the Code include the following:
- Senators are now required to file their annual Confidential Disclosure Statements within 30 days of the anniversary date of their summons to the Senate, rather than on the anniversary date of their summons.
- Newly-appointed senators are required to file their first Confidential Disclosure Statement within 60 days of being summoned to the Senate, rather than within 120 days of their summons as was previously required.
- The Code now requires the SEO to transmit to the Standing Committee on Ethics and Conflict of Interest for Senators the names of any senator who has not filed their confidential disclosure statement at the end of the 30 and 60 day periods mentioned above, rather than doing so 30 days after the anniversary date of their summons.
- The SEO is now authorized to grant deadline extensions under the Code but only in cases where he is of the view that circumstances exist to warrant the extension.
- All Declarations of Private Interests of all senators may now be searched on the Office of the SEO‘s website by parliamentary session as well as by fiscal year. Prior to the new changes, these documents could only be searched by fiscal year on the website.
These changes to the Code come into effect on June 18, 2021. The Code may be consulted at: https://seo-cse.sencanada.ca/en/code/ethics-and-conflict-of-interest-code-for-senators/