{"id":512947,"date":"2026-01-13T10:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512947\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T10:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T10:55:35","slug":"rule-change-needed-after-mp-chak-au-held-more-than-one-public-office-at-once-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512947\/","title":{"rendered":"Rule-change needed after MP Chak Au held more than one public office at once, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Richmond Centre-Marpole MP Chak Au.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Two government ethics experts say federal rules need to change to prevent members of Parliament from holding more than one public office at a time, after Chak Au continued to serve as a municipal councillor in Richmond, B.C., when he was elected a Conservative MP.<\/p>\n

Mr. Au has served as a city councillor since 2011, and was first elected federally in April. <\/p>\n

Following that election, Mr. Au said he had planned to wait until at least January to resign in order to help the city avoid the cost of a by-election, according to Richmond News. It then reported last month<\/a> that he had since decided to stay on until the fall municipal elections.<\/p>\n

However, after an inquiry from The Globe and Mail, a spokesperson for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre\u2019s office, Katy Merrifield, said Mr. Au does plan to resign and is waiting for confirmation that no by-election will be required.<\/p>\n

She said in a statement that a by-election would cost taxpayers more than $1-million. \u201cMP Au will be resigning his municipal seat once he receives this confirmation from Richmond City Council,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kenny Chiu, Mr. Au\u2019s chief of staff and the president of his local electoral district association, said the MP was committed to the hours involved in performing both roles.<\/p>\n

Mr. Chiu confirmed that Mr. Au has donated his net municipal salary to charity. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s extremely, understandably busy, to the point that we are very concerned of his health,\u201d Mr. Chiu said. \u201cI\u2019ve been a member of Parliament myself and I would not be able to handle that kind of a schedule and demand, but I\u2019m not Chak Au.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull said that although it is common for someone to hold an elected office and then run for another, nobody would expect a candidate to hold both positions afterward. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe understanding is being an MP is a full-time job,\u201d Prof. Turnbull said. Holding two \u201cwould suggest that you\u2019re not fully devoted to your role as an MP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not in the public\u2019s interest for somebody to be using at least one of their elected roles as a side hustle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

York University associate professor Ian Stedman said he would want new rules to be explicit that it is not permissible for a person to hold two elected positions that could potentially come into conflict.<\/p>\n

The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner\u2019s Office said in an e-mailed statement that there is nothing in the code that prohibits this.<\/p>\n

The Conflict of Interest Code for MPs \u201cdoes \u200bnot prohibit Members who are not ministers or parliamentary secretaries from engaging in outside activities as long as they are able to fulfill their obligations under it,” said director of communications Melanie Rushworth.<\/p>\n

MPs must disclose any outside sources of income to the Commissioner\u2019s office, but Mr. Au\u2019s conflict details have not yet been added to the office\u2019s public registry. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial compliance process has not yet been completed with MP Au,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Guy Giorno, a former chief of staff to prime minister Stephen Harper who is now the practice leader in political law at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and advises clients on government accountability and ethics, says that many provinces do have rules against MPs serving on municipal councils.<\/p>\n

For example, Alberta and Ontario have such restrictions, but British Columbia does not. <\/p>\n

Mr. Giorno added that under Parliament\u2019s conflict-of-interest code, Mr. Au\u2019s second job would create a \u201cprivate interest\u201d that could bar him from voting or debating on matters that affect Richmond.<\/p>\n

Prof. Stedman noted that conflicts could be difficult to avoid, as Canadians are increasingly looking to have the federal government involved in municipal issues, such as housing.<\/p>\n

Mr. Au\u2019s two roles had also raised concerns among fellow Richmond city councillors, though outgoing mayor Malcolm Brodie was supportive of Mr. Au staying on. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s effectively fulfilling his civic role slightly differently than before he got elected,\u201d Mr. Brodie said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a reasonably unique situation, I don\u2019t expect to see it again in the future, but I take it for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Alexa Loo said it made sense for Mr. Au to keep the council role until January, because it prevented the cost of a by-election. \u201cNow it\u2019s time to pick a lane and do that job wholeheartedly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Councillor Carol Day said there is a \u201claundry list\u201d of reasons Mr. Au should not have both roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you rather do one job well or two jobs poorly?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Richmond Centre-Marpole MP Chak Au.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press Two government ethics experts say…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":512948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-512947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115887428316793995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}