A Walking, Talking, One Man Conflict of Interest

Can an executive at a company that has interests in everything from jet planes to bookstores to movie theatres be expected to give the prime minister unbiased policy advice? A lot of pundits seem to think so.

Managing director of Onex Corp. Nigel Wright will begin his new gig as Stephen Harper’s chief of staff on Monday. Never before has such a powerful figure from the business world served as a prime minister’s top advisor, and his appointment has the opposition crying conflict of interest, especially as he intends to return to Onex once his term is done.

He was grilled by opposition MPs yesterday at an ethics committee meeting, which the National Post’s Keith Beardsley describes as a small-minded process that has “given every successful businessman in Canada reason to think twice before deciding to serve Canada.” This could come back to haunt the Liberals, he says, because assuming they ever win another election, “they may want a successful and highly skilled businessman to serve as chief of staff to their prime minister. What comes around goes around and they may yet live to regret their grandstanding.”

In a curiously condescending column in the Post, John Ivison describes the opposition MPs who hammered Wright as blithering idiots, writing that “Wright sat like Everest surrounded by … sandhills” and “must have wondered why he decided to take a six-figure pay cut to come to Ottawa to be insulted by people not as smart as him.” This seems a little off the mark, as even intelligent people like the CBC’s Kady O’Malley, one of the few writers who understands the workings of government down to minute detail, have raised doubts about Wright. Also, if Ivison is suggesting smart people don’t have to explain themselves to lesser intellects, does that mean he’ll be backing Michael “I Taught at Harvard” Ignatieff for PM?

La Presse’s Manon Cornellier (courtesy Norman Spector's translation) also questions Wright’s appointment, describing Onex as “a gigantic, sprawling entity — the largest employer in the country next to the Federal Government. Some 40 of its companies operate in almost all areas — from health to culture through aerospace and investments … The company is too big to give Mr. Wright sufficient elbow room — all the more so because he is not really leaving Onex.”