Ministers from Hay River, Fort Smith put their businesses on the shelf

Two MLAs in the Northwest Territories have had to step away from their businesses now that they're cabinet ministers.

The career shiftsare confirmed in the MLAs' public disclosure statements, which were released last week by the territory's conflict of interest commissioner.

Besides indicating a predilection among N.W.T.MLAs for Ford trucks and loans from CIBC, the disclosures also establish on the public record which cabinet ministers and regular MLAs owned businesses before they were elected to public office.

According to the Legislative Assemblyand Executive Council Act,cabinetministersmust stop practising a profession, carrying on a business or having any other type of employment.

Wally Schumann, the minister of Transportation, founded Poison Painting, also known as Poison Graphics, which Schumann's MLA profile page touts as "the leading business in sign shop manufacturing in the N.W.T."

Between 2004 and now, the Hay River-based company won $3.4 million in contracts with the territorial government, including $1.1 million in sole source contracts, according to data collected by OpenNWT, a website that promotes government transparency.

• N.W.T. government spent $90M on sole sourcing contracts in 2014-15

Many contracts were with the department Schumann now heads.

But to shield himself from potential conflicts of interest, Schumann has put Poison Graphics into a blind trust.

"One of my standard conditions in approving a minister's blind trust is that the minister must not have any role in the granting or administration of any contract between his department and the blind trust," says David Jones, the N.W.T.'s conflict of interest commissioner.

"All authority to deal with such a situation must be delegated to another minister, and the minister (the one with the blind trust) must not be involved in the government's dealings with the business operated by the blind trust."

Legal practice ceased

Schumann's cabinet colleagueLouis Sebert also had to rearrange his business life.

Sebert, the minister of Justice, ceased legal practice at his Fort Smith law office in February.

The public disclosure statements also require MLAs to list shares inpublic or private companies individually worth more than $10,000. Shares worth less than that are not thought to create a conflict of interest.

Sebert's investment portfolio easilytrumps those of all other members of the 18th legislative assembly,with shares or other interests in three dozen companieseverything from the Bank of Montreal to Transcanada Corp.tothe North West Company, which owns NorthMartand Northern Stores in the N.W.T.

There's nothing stopping a regular MLA or minister fromacquiring or selling existing or new stocks or shares, but they have to update their public disclosure statement within 90 days if they acquire a share or interest worth more than $10,000, says Jones.

The statements are nowviewable at the legislative assembly library.