Stephen Harper’s close advisor, convicted fraudster Bruce Carson, very likely committed ethics violations by having dealings with government less than a year after he left the PMO’s employ.

Carson’s lobbying and other potential violations of the Conflict of Interest Act as head of a taxpayer funded, University of Calgary-based Canada School for Energy and Environment, are now under investigation, as Andrew Nikiforuk reported in-depth earlier today in the Tyee.

But don’t expect Carson to be found guilty, says Duff Conacher, Coordinator of the corruption monitor Democracy Watch. Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, who is conducting the probe by request of the Prime Minister’s Office, has “let more than 20 Conservative Cabinet ministers, MPs and officials off the hook for clear violations of ethics rules, has never found a Conservative in violation of any conflict of interest or other key ethics rule, and has an extremely weak enforcement record,” Conacher says.

In a letter to The Tyee emailed after today’s story was published, Conacher writes:

The Prime Minister's Office has disclosed that in January 2009 then-Chief of Staff Guy Giorno sent a letter to federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson informing her that the office had set up a secret ethics "screen" to prevent then-PMO-advisor Bruce Carson from participating in discussions and decisions about certain parts of the federal budget that was then under development.

Carson was supposedly prevented by the self-enforced, secret screen from participating in budget decisions because he was in a conflict of interest as he was, at the same time, Executive Director of the Canada School of Energy and the Environment which was lobbying the government for budget money.

When government officials remove themselves from policy discussions or decisions because of a conflict of interest, they are clearly required by the Conflict of Interest Act to declare it in the Public Registry (known technically as a recusal declaration).

The Act does not authorize in any way the use of secret ethics screens. As a result, in Democracy Watch's opinion, the secret screen set up by the PMO for Bruce Carson was illegal.

Ethics Commissioner Dawson created what Democracy Watch believes is an illegal system of secret ethics screens when she took office in July 2007. She has used it for an unknown number of Cabinet ministers, staff, appointees and senior government officials, but it is known that she used it for former Minister of State Helena Guergis, and current Minister of Fisheries Gail Shea.

In any case, the system of secret ethics screens clearly undermines effective enforcement of ethics rules because it keeps secret the fact that a government official is in a conflict of interest and prohibited from taking part in policy-making processes.

Given that Ethics Commissioner Dawson refuses to conduct audits of anyone covered by the ethics rules (as part of her very weak enforcement practices), it is clearly important that everyone involved in government, the media and the public are informed about situations in which government officials are in a conflict of interest and barred from being involved in specific policy-making processes.

Mr. Carson was also likely in violation of the Act when he communicated in January 2009 with the Minister of the Environment seeking federal budget money for the Canada School, as that was during Mr. Carson's one-year cooling-off period from making representations to most every policy-maker in the government that began in August 2008 when he left the PMO. As well, his communications likely also violate the rule in the Act that prohibits taking improper advantage of his former government position.

In addition, Mr. Carson was also clearly required by the Act to inform Commissioner Dawson that he had communicated with the Minister of the Environment -- a requirement that is aimed at ensuring former government officials do not lobby the federal government during their cooling-off period.

However, don't expect Commissioner Dawson to find Mr. Carson guilty of violating the Act in any way -- she has let more than 20 Conservative Cabinet ministers, MPs and officials off the hook for clear violations of ethics rules, has never found a Conservative in violation of any conflict of interest or other key ethics rule, and has an extremely weak enforcement record -- see details here.

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.