Hussen’s office gave $93k in PR work to senior staffer’s sister’s foodie firm – National | 24CA News
Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen’s workplace admitted Thursday evening that his senior staffer is the sister of the director of a foodie communications agency that obtained $93,050 in constituency funds.
Hussen’s workplace confirmed that his director of coverage, Tia Tariq, is sisters with Hiba Tariq, the director of Munch More Media, the corporate that has been receiving profitable contracts to assist the York South—Weston MP attain out to constituents.
However, Hussen’s workplace mentioned the association was disclosed to the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
“(Tia Tariq) has not been involved at all in any of the ways that Munch More Media assists Minister Hussen as a member of Parliament to his constituents,” mentioned Brittany Hendrych in an interview with Global News Thursday evening.
“We take these obligations very seriously when it comes to this … Everything — it was disclosed and the rules were followed in this case.”
Hendrych added that the minister’s workplace, the place Tia Tariq works, and Hussen’s constituency workplace, which pays Hiba Tariq’s agency, are two separate entities.
Lobbying information present Tia Tariq has been working with Hussen since no less than 2017, when he was minister of immigration, and has held quite a few positions with Hussen’s workplace since. She now serves as Hussen’s director of coverage.
Hiba Tariq, her sister, is the director of PR agency Munch More Media Inc., a foodie communications agency in Toronto. In a December 2015 Instagram submit, Hiba tagged a fellow Instagram person, figuring out them as siblings.
In her Instagram profile, Tia describes herself as a “politico” engaged on “policy for #TeamTrudeau.”
Munch More Media has obtained no less than $93,050 in communications work for Hussen’s York South—Weston constituency workplace since Jan. 2021. Global News first reported the contracts by way of an evaluation of publicly-available expense information.
The contracts coincide with Tia Tariq’s time as a senior adviser to Hussen.
Hussen declined Global’s interview request Tuesday. When requested immediately if Hussen had any private relationship with anybody at Munch More Media, the minister’s workplace didn’t deal with the query — solely saying that Hussen adopted House of Commons guidelines in awarding the contracts.
After Global News approached them once more on Thursday with extra questions on Tia Tariq, Hussen’s workplace admitted to the familial connection between his director of coverage and the agency dealing with his constituency communications.
“The minister has no relationship to Hiba, other than the fact that they have this contract with the communications firm,” Hendrych mentioned.
MPs are allowed to make use of publicly-funded constituency cash on communications work, though Hussen was considered one of simply three cupboard ministers who had spent vital quantities on public relations in current months.
All federal public workplace holders, nevertheless, are required to keep away from conflicts of curiosity.
When initially requested if she had a private relationship with Hussen previous to the contracts, Hiba Tariq responded that she didn’t. After follow-up questions, she confirmed that she knew Hussen’s former director of coverage, Abdikhier Ahmed.
Ahmed confirmed he’s the co-director of “Empire of Goodness,” a non-profit group, with Hiba Tariq.
A Liberal supply instructed Global earlier than the preliminary story was printed that Hussen was unaware of the hyperlink between Hiba Tariq and Ahmed. However, Hussen’s workplace — over a number of conversations this week — didn’t acknowledge any connection between the director of Munch More Media and considered one of his most senior advisers.
Neither Hiba Tariq nor Tia Tariq returned requests for remark Thursday night.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, earlier than the newest revelations in regards to the connection between Hussen’s workplace and Munch More Media, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh referred to as particulars within the preliminary story “obviously problematic.”
“There’s a smell test, and if something smells bad, I shouldn’t do it. Sending money to close friends without a clear process in place obviously doesn’t pass the smell test,” Singh mentioned.
“What we see in this case, and like we’ve seen in cases recently with other ministers, is that (the Liberals) always seem to find a way to give these contracts to people they’re friends with, or people who their friends are friends with,” mentioned Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett in an interview with Global Thursday.
In December, Trade Minister Mary Ng apologized for breaking ethics guidelines in relation to $17,000 in contracts awarded to the agency of her buddy, Liberal commentator Amanda Alvaro.
“There is simply no excuse for contracting with a friend’s company,” mentioned Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion mentioned in a press release on the time.
In 2020, then-Toronto MP Yasmin Ratansi resigned from the Liberal caucus after it got here to gentle that she had employed her sister to work in her constituency workplace.
At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned he was “deeply disappointed” by the revelations, describing them as “unacceptable.”
Ratansi described her determination to rent her sister as “an error in judgment.”
The federal ethics commissioner ultimately decided that Ratansi had contravened the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons, however didn’t impose any sanction.
