Values and Ethics Code of the Department of Justice

Annex B: Assets, Liabilities and Trusts

Reportable Assets and Liabilities

Public servants must carefully evaluate on a regular basis whether their assets and liabilities need to be reported.  In doing so, they must take into consideration the nature of their official duties and the characteristics of their assets and liabilities.  If there is any real, apparent or potential conflict between the carrying out of their official duties and their assets and liabilities, a disclosure to the office responsible for values and ethics must be made.  If there is no relationship, no report is required.

Any assets and or direct and contingent liabilities that might give rise to a conflict of interest must be reported within 60 days of the public servants first appointment or any subsequent appointment, transfer or deployment.  Any measures required to manage or resolve a conflict of interest will normally be completed or in place within 120 calendar days, or such other appropriate time period as determined by the Department after a determination that a real, apparent or potential conflict of interest exists.  More information can be found in Annex B of the Directive on Conflict of Interest.

The following is a list of examples of assets and liabilities that must be reported if they do, or could, constitute a conflict of interest. This list is not exhaustive.

  1. publicly traded securities of corporations and foreign governments, and self-administered Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs), self-administered Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs), tax free savings accounts, and Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs), or similar tax-related saving vehicles, that are composed of these securities, where these securities are held directly and not through units in mutual funds;
  2. interests in partnerships, proprietorships, joint ventures, private companies and family businesses, in particular those that own or control shares of public companies or that do business with the government;
  3. interests in labour-sponsored venture capital corporations or similar entities;
  4. commercially operated farm businesses;
  5. real property that is not for the private use of public servants or their family members;
  6. commodities, futures and foreign currencies held or traded for speculative purposes;
  7. assets placed in trust or resulting from an estate of which the public servant is a beneficiary;
  8. secured or unsecured loans granted to persons other than to members of the public servant's immediate family;
  9. any other assets or liabilities that could give rise to a real, apparent or potential conflict of interest due to the particular nature of the public servant's official duties or the non-public information to which he or she has access; and
  10. direct and contingent liabilities in respect of any of the assets described in this section.

Non-reportable Assets

Assets and interests for the private use of public servants and of their family members, as well as non-commercial assets, are not subject to the compliance measures.

For example, such assets include the following:

  1. residences, recreational properties and farms used or intended for use by public servants or their families;
  2. household goods and personal effects;
  3. works of art, antiques and collectibles;
  4. automobiles and other personal means of transportation;
  5. cash and deposits;
  6. Canada Saving Bonds and other similar investments in securities of fixed value issued or guaranteed by any level of government in Canada or agencies of those governments;
  7. Registered Retirement Savings Plans and Registered Education Saving Plans that are not self-administered;
  8. investments in open-ended mutual funds;
  9. guaranteed investment certificates and similar financial instruments;
  10. annuities and life insurance policies;
  11. pension rights;
  12. money owed by a previous employer, client or partnership;
  13. personal loans receivable from members of public servants' immediate families and small personal loans receivable from other persons where public servants have loaned the moneys receivable; and
  14. any liability, such as a car loan, home renovation loan or credit card account, from a financial institution or business entity granted on terms available to the general public.