Should a company that administers provincial government grants also be providing and soliciting grant application services to grant applicants?
The issue first arose in the B.C. legislature on April 3 at a public accounts committee meeting. There, BC United opposition MLA Jackie Tegart for Fraser-Nicola called on the auditor to undertake an examination of the CleanBC go-electric grant program for “any potential conflict of interest relating to program administrators charging success fees to successful applicants who use their advisory services.
Barber said Edison was declined by MNP, which was contracted to administer the grant — one of several other CleanBC grant programs MNP states on its website it administers. Groff, via email, clarified to Glacier Media, “We are unable to speak with certainty on the record about whether MNP offered to apply for any grants that they administer.”