Calgary Mayor Nenshi in Conflict of Interest Flap over Flight Paid for by Architecture Firm
12 February 2011 | Municipal Government, Conflict of Interest and Ethics
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is facing allegations that he put himself in a conflict of interest by accepting a free airline ticket. Nenshi was invited to speak at the Healthy Cities symposium in Toronto by the host of the symposium, Kasian, an architecture firm that has financial dealings with the City of Calgary.
Concerned about spending taxpayer money to attend the symposium, Nenshi agreed to go when Kasian agreed to pay for his flight, and publicly disclosed that his flight was being paid for by the firm. The economy class return flight cost $721.50.
Nenshi ended up staying in Toronto for more than the symposium, doing a number of other interviews and giving some speeches.
The Calgary Herald and the National Post have written on this matter.
Was it fiscally responsible for the mayor to saved Calgary taxpayers $700, or should Calgarians be concerned about the potential for the use of gifts to buy influence?
As Nenshi publicly disclosed that his flight was paid for by Kasian, and seeing as the gift of the ticket was only $700, my view is that the Mayor is not in a conflict of interest, even a perceived one. It is public knowledge that Kasian paid for the flight, and any contacts between Kasian and the city will now be subject to additional scrutiny by the press and politicians. In addition, I do not believe that the mayor of a major Canadian city can be influenced with a gift of $700.
However, the gift has clearly been more trouble than it was worth for both Kasian and the mayor. While the flight and symposium may have caught the Mayor's attention for Kasian, any future dealings between the Mayor and Kasian will now involve some reference to the gift of the flight ticket, and the media attention on this is a distraction for the Mayor and something he could have done without.
The most troubling aspect is that the Mayor does not seem to understand that the flight ticket was indeed a gift. The amount of the gift was so trivial that I do not think it was a problem that he accepted it, but I am concerned that he does not consider it to be a gift.
In any event, this matter shows the value of having clear rules on what gifts are and when they may be accepted. Given the controversy it caused, I think the Mayor would agree that having the city pay $700 for the flight ticket would have been money well spent.