Understanding the Unwritten Rules: Examining the use of Ontario Parliamentary Convention to Guide the Conduct of Elected Officials in Ontario

Government ethics legislation in Canada guides and restricts the conduct of parliamentarians. Ontario established an independent officer of the legislature in 1988 who is responsible for administering its government ethics legislation. In 1994, an undefined behaviour-guiding standard called “Ontario parliamentary convention” was added to the legislation. This paper explores the history of Ontario’s government ethics regime and examines its response to specific scandals, in order to describe the emergence of Ontario parliamentary convention as a standard of conduct. It then provides a full discussion and complementary summary of the specific parliamentary conventions that Ontario’s legislative ethics officers have determined must guide the conduct of Ontario’s parliamentarians. This discussion and summary illuminate the problematic and inconsistent use of this standard by Ontario’s legislative ethics officers. Two sets of recommendations are then offered to help modernize and strengthen the legislation for the benefit of Ontario’s parliamentarians.LL.M