Is the Globe and Mail playing loose with Derek Burney's corporate disclosures? The paper admits fault in one instance, but what is it leaving out?
(Disclosure: I’m the full-time paid publisher of Briarpatch Magazine, a volunteer board member of the Media Co-op, CEO of the currently inactive environmental consulting company Porpoise B Consulting, and freelance journalist. My partner is a designer for the CBC, not involved in content.)
Derek Burney has been writing op-eds for the Globe and Mail since 2011. He writes about the implications of major deals and negotiations like NAFTA, pipelines, trade with China, the role of Canada and the United States in the Middle East, and more. In the last year, Burney has become something of a super stringer for the opinion section, with bylines on 15 op-eds, several co-written with Fen Osler Hampson, a professor at Carleton University.
Atop each column his expertise is described as follows: “Derek Burney was Canada’s ambassador to the United States from 1989 to 1993. He led the Canadian delegation in concluding negotiations of the Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement.”
Burney is likely not the only columnist whose relevant ties – normally viewed in journalism as a conflict of interest – are not fully revealed by Canadian papers. But this case, partly on account of prolific writing on important matters pertaining to energy and security issues, is an instructive one. Do publications do enough legwork to investigate contributors’ backgrounds and connections to the stories they pitch, and to inform readers of these connections?
It doesn’t seem so. Take a look at a recent Burney column published in the Globe with this same description. In Burney’s op-ed in August, “It’s time for a fresh look at Energy East,” readers were not informed that from 2005 to April 2018 Burney had been a director of TransCanada Pipelines, which had lobbied for the failed Energy East pipeline it stood to build and operate.

The article that set off the latest round of criticism of the Globe’s non-disclosures of corporate ties. Burney had been on the board of TransCanada, the proponent of Energy East, from 2005 until April 2018.
After being called out on Twitter and receiving emails on the matter, in September the Globe’s public editor, Sylvia Stead, acknowledged that Burney’s TransCanada connection should have been disclosed to readers in this one instance.
Stead’s post also mentioned some of Burney’s other activities, including other corporate roles.
Has the Globe adequately disclosed those to readers over the years? And what, if anything, has changed regarding disclosures in the articles Burney has published with the Globe over time?
First, a note on disclosures. Disclosures are made to help readers understand the interests of the writer. News journalists, who aim for impartiality on the topics they cover (whether they can ever achieve impartiality is another discussion), are expected to not have major interests – financial stakes, advisory roles or memberships, for example – in what they are covering. You would expect that a reporter covering the cannabis industry, for example, would not be a director or executive for a cannabis company.
Other media outlets have also neglected to mention Burney’s corporate connections, and those of other opinion contributors.
Foreign Affairs published an article Burney co-authored with Fen Osler Hampson, “How Obama Lost Canada,” in June 2012, five months before the American election. The first sentence reads, “Permitting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline should have been an easy diplomatic and economic decision for U.S. President Barack Obama.” Burney’s TransCanada directorship was not mentioned. The piece was widely read and it was only once the Toronto Star started asking questions about why no disclosure had been made that a disclosure note was added to the article.
iPolitics, CTV, and BNN have also at times neglected to disclose Burney’s ties when relevant NAFTA, energy, and other issues are discussed, either in print or on television. At other times, either the publications or Burney have disclosed his ties.
The Globe & Mail’s code of ethics, updated in 2017, says this on the topic:
“As a general rule, reporters and columnists should avoid taking part in coverage of matters in which they have or may be perceived to have significant personal interests.”
“In this context, personal interest means a financial stake in a matter being covered, an outside involvement with a group or association being covered, a close friendship, romantic attachment or near-family relationship to someone whose career or other interests may be affected, or any other entanglement that could lead to less than even-handed treatment.”
How this is mitigated for people with various ties and interests is through disclosure:
“In columns and feature stories, significant personal interests may be noted either in the text or in italics at the end. This gives the reader an even break and generally takes care of the problem.”
In addition to this policy, the Globe and Mail has had a public editor position since 2012 (a role Stead has held since), an effort to build trust with its audience and respond to its concerns.
Alan Conter, lecturer of journalism law and ethics at Concordia University, says in a phone interview that in Burney’s case, “There should be disclosure made when he writes on topics relevant to his corporate roles. I think the Globe and Mail needs to be rigorous, especially as it positions itself as the paper of record for business and corporate affairs.” (Conter is also a communications consultant and formerly worked for the CBC – disclosure!)
It is more common for op-ed contributors, who are expected to have opinions, to have personal interests. In an op-ed, you may expect to read, for example, a cannabis company executive arguing their point of view on the cannabis industry. The key is that readers are informed of this personal interest.
In this context, it is well within the Globe’s ethics code to publish the opinions of someone like Burney, as long as his interests, especially financial interests, be they real or perceived, are made clear to readers.
In June 2015, when Burney argued in an op-ed for the federal government to use its constitutional powers to advance work on pipelines, LNG (liquid natural gas) projects, and more, it was not disclosed that he was a lobbyist for Bear Head LNG, which was proposing to build a major LNG facility in Nova Scotia. In the week before this article was published, Burney had lobbied two federal ministers and Canada’s ambassador to the United States on behalf of Bear Head LNG, according to Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada records. Burney was also a director of TransCanada Pipelines at the time, proponent of the Energy East and Keystone XL pipelines.
In October 2017, Burney wrote about NAFTA, calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure better market access for Canadian exports in trade negotiations with Trump. At the time, according to the lobbyist registry, Burney was lobbying the federal government on behalf of FGF Brands Inc. – an Ontario-based bakery that sells products in Canada, the U.S., and Puerto Rico – about the implications of the NAFTA renegotiation on the company’s access to the U.S. market.
A scroll through the Globe’s Burney disclosures
Op-ed: “Alberta’s oil problem is Canada’s problem” (Nov. 23, 2018)
Sample passage: “Given the availability and demand for relatively low-priced supplies of oil and gas, the global carbon-reduction targets inspired by the Paris Accord are unattainable by any measure.”
Not disclosed: Burney’s professional role on the advisory board of Paradigm Capital, which invests in Alberta oil and gas companies as a pillar of its business, is not disclosed.
Op-ed: “How Canada can win on NAFTA: remain calm, ignore Trump’s bluster” (with Fen Osler Hampson, Dec. 22, 2017)
Sample passage: “So, while some pundits are wallowing in gloom and doom, the future of NAFTA is not all bleak. For one thing, there is scope for a rational modernization of NAFTA that includes several topics already negotiated and agreed under the original Trans-Pacific Partnership – measures affecting small business, the expansion of IT and digital services and new technologies to facilitate customs clearance.”
Not disclosed: Three months earlier, Burney had lobbied the federal government about NAFTA, on behalf of FGF Brands Inc., according to the federal lobbyist filings.
Op-ed: Donald Trump's high-wire act on the global stage (Oct. 25, 2018)
Sample passage: "[U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess] Mitchell explicitly warned that Western Europeans “cannot continue to deepen energy dependence on the same Russia that America defends them against.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel got the message. After constant badgering from Washington about Germany’s over-dependence on gas imports from Russia, she announced that facilities would soon be built on the German coast to accommodate LNG imports from the U.S."
Not disclosed: Though Burney has not lobbied the federal government since January 2017, his lobbyist registration at the time on behalf of Bear Head LNG was listed as active. He had lobbied 87 times since 2014, largely targeting Foreign Affairs and Natural Resources Canada. Bear Head LNG, a subsidiary of Australia-based Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., has been planning an LNG in Nova Scotia that "will be the largest industrial construction project in Atlantic Canada,” according to CEO John Baguley. The company has its sights on exporting LNG to Europe and mentions on its site that the facility "is about half the shipping distance to major European markets compared to U.S. Gulf ports."
Op-ed: “Trudeau to get a quick lesson in global realities” (Oct. 22, 2015, three days after the Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, won a majority of seats in the federal election)
Sample passage: “Canada should not repeat the mistake it made at the Kyoto summit many years ago, which was to agree to hastily improvised targets without calculating the costs or consequences of implementation. Given the fragile state of the Canadian economy and the weak price of oil, which the International Energy Agency forecasts will remain low throughout 2016, Mr. Trudeau will also have to act prudently.”
Not disclosed: At the time, Burney was a director of TransCanada, the company behind the then-proposed Energy East pipeline. Energy East was facing uncertainty, with Trudeau having said while campaigning that federally regulated pipelines would need to go through an updated approval process, including added climate considerations. Burney was paid $232,000 by TransCanada for his directorship in 2015, and held $3.5 million in shares as of Jan. 29, 2016, up slightly from the year before.
Op-ed: "Whether TPP or NAFTA, Canada needs to walk a careful line" (with Fen Osler Hampson, Nov. 23, 2016)
Sample passage: “We should contemplate as a matter of priority areas of common purpose, like expanded energy development and the need to refurbish shared infrastructure on our continent, such as electricity grids."
Not disclosed: At the time, TransCanada was actively suing the U.S. government for $15 billion for NAFTA violations over denying approval of a piece of shared energy infrastructure it had proposed, the Keystone XL pipeline. Burney was a compensated director of TransCanada.
Op-ed: "Trudeau gets a quick introduction to the global stage – and Canada's role" (Nov. 24, 2015)
Sample passage: "The decision to withdraw from a combat mission against Islamic State and concentrate instead on training was consistent with the Liberal campaign pledge but was not driven by any analysis of what was now needed."
Not disclosed: Burney’s advisory board role with GardaWorld, which was doing business with militaries and corporations in Afghanistan and area.
Op-ed: “The U.S. is losing the close friends it needs the most” (with Fen Osler Hampson, July 14, 2014)
Sample passage: “There has been abundant criticism about the way the United States has handled its relations with Russia, China, and an unfolding succession of crises in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and now Israel-Palestine – much of it justified.”
Not disclosed: At the time, Burney was chairman of the GardaWorld International advisory board. GardaWorld, a large international security company, was doing high volumes of business for militaries and corporations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where GardWorld had been recently struggling.
Asked whether, in light of Burney’s extensive ties and lobbying efforts, the Globe would be making additional acknowledgments of conflict of interest, or internal changes, public editor Stead directed attention to her public Sept. 6 post, and would not comment further. “I will let my blog on the issue stand,” she wrote by email.
Comment editor Natasha Hassan, who oversaw most of Burney’s articles noted here, and editor-in-chief David Walmsley did not respond when asked for comment.
No retroactive disclosures were made on Burney’s many op-eds available online, not even the Energy East op-ed that Stead focused on.
The Globe has continued publishing Burney since Stead’s post.
Burney and the Globe staff work together on the disclosures process when he writes, he explained by email in response to a request for comment. Asked whether he had disclosed his roles with GardaWorld, Bear Head LNG, or Paradigm Capital (see sidebar) to the Globe, Burney replied “No. I have no fiduciary responsibility with GARDA, Bearhead or Paradigm and no longer represent FGF Brands. None of these affiliations is in any event relevant to anything I have written for the Globe.” While Burney’s work with these corporate clients is paid, in a strictly legal sense it is only the board of directors and officers of a corporation who have fiduciary responsibility, meaning the responsibility to act in the best financial interest of the corporation.
Asked whether he thinks the Globe does an adequate job disclosing to readers potential conflicts influencing writer’s views, Burney responded, “Yes I think experience is often the major influence on my views even though Op Ed’s are by nature expressions of opinion. And yes I believe the Globe is meticulous in vetting both opinions and qualifications.”
In September, Burney turned his attention to cyberattacks in an op-ed, pushing the Canadian government to broaden a review it was conducting, and to invest in domestic technology. His role as chairman on Montreal-based GardaWorld’s advisory board was not disclosed. GardaWorld touts itself as a leading provider of services to protect against attacks on information technology (IT) systems.
In November, Burney’s GardaWorld role was again not disclosed when writing about how Canada should approach war-torn Afghanistan, including how to direct money. GardaWorld has for years been providing security services in Afghanistan, and is currently hiring there.
Burney’s conflicts of interest, real or perceived, remain mostly unacknowledged by the Globe.
“I think good practice is to disclose,” says Western University journalism professor Romayne Smith Fullerton in a phone interview. “I don’t see a reason why not to.”
Smith Fullerton understands the resume for someone like Burney is long, and so a publication won’t disclose everything he has been involved with. “For example,” she says “I don’t think it was super relevant that he was Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. from 1989 to 1993 when he’s writing about Energy East, when he was a director of the Keystone XL and Energy East proponent TransCanada from 2005 to 2018. Similarly with GardaWorld if he’s writing about the Middle East.”
“These connections can’t be a mystery to most people at the Globe,” she says, noting that Burney is a well-known figure in politics and business. “When it’s so easy to find this information, when anyone can Google it, when it’s so easy to call foul, why wouldn’t you be more up front?”
Checking to see that Burney is a registered lobbyist is a straightforward online process. However, his lobbying activities are not acknowledged anywhere in Stead’s public letter, or in disclosures on articles.
“They can’t codify all behaviours,” says Smith Fullerton, “that’s impossible. But their code of conduct’s aim is clearly to have transparency to build credibility. Here they are contravening the spirit of the code of conduct, as well as some specifics in it.”
Discussing the Globe’s lack of a response to J-Source’s follow-up questions about regaining readers’ trust, Smith Fullerton asks, “Are we now at a stage where we need a readers’ advocate for the readers’ advocate?”
“It’s baffling to me: why, given an opportunity to address a lack of transparency, would you choose more obfuscation?” Smith Fullerton adds by email. “She must have her reasons; I’d love to know what they are.”
The issue, of course, is not limited to one contributor at one outlet.

Appearing on BNN Bloomberg on January 20, 2017, while a director of TransCanada, neither the network nor Burney disclose his TransCanada directorship nor his GardaWorld advisory position. In the course of the discussion, Burney says, “There are a lot of other areas where Canada has mutual interest with the United States. I’m talking about security, I’m talking about energy, I’m talking about infrastructure.” Screenshot by David Gray-Donald
When Brad Wall wrote an op-ed in the National Post in November, “Liberals previous energy missteps echoed in current national emergency,” it was mentioned only that he was formerly the premier of Saskatchewan, not that he is currently employed as a consultant with law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. As Wall’s profile on the company website states, “Brad offers Osler clients his strategic insight and guidance, particularly in relation to the energy and agri-food industries. In addition, clients will benefit from Brad’s extensive understanding of the interconnection between business, politics, and trade, on a global scale.” Among the firm’s current clients is oil giant Husky Energy, though Wall is not specifically listed on that project team.
“What that tells me is that this practice of not checking columnists’ connections and credentials is widely spread, and widely accepted,” says Smith Fullerton.
The internet and social media are changing the gatekeeping role of newspapers and other media outlets, says Smith Fullerton. “You either work harder to readjust standards, or lose credibility. And if you’re not doing this with credibility, you’re asking to be taken down.”
Commenting on the Globe and Mail in particular, which bills itself as the paper of record, ‘Canada’s National Newspaper,’ Fullerton asks, “How am I supposed to teach my students (these standards) if the Globe won’t meet those standards?”