Another Liberal minister awarded thousands of contracts to a foodie firm with family ties to a senior housing minister’s staffer Ahmed HussainGlobal News has learnt.
marci ian, Minister for Women and Gender Equality awarded $10,000 in constituency contracts chew more mediaA Toronto-based public relations firm specializing in restaurant and food service industry promotion.
global news reported on Thursday Hiba Tariq is the sister of the director of Munch More Media. tia tariqwho has held a number of senior staff roles in the Liberal government over the past six years.
Hussain’s office provided $93k in PR work to senior employee’s sister’s foodie firm
Take a sneak tour of Super Nintendo World, opening next month
Hussain’s York South-West constituency office has given at least $93,050 of taxpayer-funded constituency money to Munch More Media since January 2021, A Global News Analysis of Public Expenditure Records Has shown.
According to expense records, Ian gave two contracts to Manch More Media – one in March 2021 for $7,000, and one in July 2021 for $3,000.
Lobbying records list Tia Tariq as IAN’s director of policy in May 2021.
She now works for Hussain as the director of policy.
Ian’s office told Global News that Munch More Media was hired to provide “communications and advertising support” for his newly formed constituency office following the minister’s October 2020 by-election victory.
But in a statement, a spokeswoman for Ian said the lobbying registry incorrectly identified Tariq as Ian’s director of policy.
“Marci Ien has neither met nor interacted with Hiba Tariq now as a minister, or in her capacity as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre,” said Ien’s press secretary Johise Namwira.
“She was not privy to any existing personal relationships between employees of Munch More Media in (Minister Hussain’s) office.”
Requests for comment to Tariq’s official email address were not returned Thursday and Friday.
Global News first reported the relationship between Hiba Tariq and Tia Tariq on Thursday night. Tariq is currently a senior staffer to Housing Minister Ahmed Hussain, and Liberal sources describe him as one of Hussain’s closest advisers.
Hussain’s office acknowledged Thursday night that the minister knew Hiba Tariq was the sister of one of his senior staffers. But he said the arrangement had been approved by the federal ethics watchdog, and followed all House of Commons rules.
Global News asked the Ethics Commissioner’s office whether it had indeed signed off on the decision of Minister Hussein’s office to award the contract to Munch More Media and whether the commissioner was aware of the family relationship between Tia and Hiba Tariq.
A spokesperson for the Office said it could not answer our questions, explaining that any advice it provides is confidential, as is any request for advice received by the Office.
Initially Hiba Tariq denied She had had a personal relationship with Hussain before she was awarded the communications contract.
Tariq later admitted that she knew Hussein’s former policy director, Abdikhier Ahmed, who is listed as co-director with Tariq for the non-profit organization “Empire of Goodness”.
Global asked Hussain on Tuesday in Munch More Media if he had any personal ties to anyone, but his office did not respond to the question.
After follow-up questions, Hussain’s office acknowledged that Hiba and Tia Tariq were related.
Hussain’s office did not immediately respond to Global’s questions on Friday — including whether the minister’s hiring of a senior staffer’s sister was a personal affair, and Munch Morey’s work for his constituency office. Believe it or not to provide examples.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office declined to answer specific questions about the contracts between Hussain and Munch More Media, including when he was informed of the arrangements and whether the office had met any senior employees. Is comfortable with a minister using constituency money to contract with the family.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.