Lori Idlout regrets expenses made while she was NDP MP

POLITICS  SEP 3, 2026 – 3:54 PM EDT Lori Idlout regrets expenses made while she was NDP MP MP Lori Idlout says she accepts the findings of an ethics report which concluded she engaged in conflict of interest Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, seen in a file photo, says she regrets various purchases her office filed over 2024 and 2025, saying it was a lapse in judgement. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian) By Miriam Lafontaine Nunavut MP Lori Idlout agreed she made an error in judgement after a report released Wednesday concluded that expenses she claimed in 2024 and 2025 constituted a conflict of interest. The purchases made by her member’s office constituted an error in judgement, Canada’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein found after his investigation into the incident, but he didn’t impose any sanctions against her, noting her errors were made in “good faith.” The expenses included four occasions when her staff bought gifts from Carvings Nunavut, a retail art gallery where she is the sole shareholder and director.  As well, the report looks into accommodations the MP booked at a bed and breakfast in Igloolik owned by her spouse Allan Mullin.  “As soon as these were brought to my attention, I immediately reimbursed all these claimed expenses, demonstrating a true desire to fully rectify these errors,” the MP said in a public statement following the report’s publication.  “I did not consider that these purchases made for legitimate parliamentary purposes would further private interests, as I receive no income from the businesses in question,” she added. “I have since learned from this experience.” The purchases were all made prior to her crossing the floor to join the Liberals, when she was an NDP MP. “Idlout reimbursed all of the claimed expenses immediately after the concerns were brought to her attention,” the commissioner wrote in his report. “In my view, this demonstrated a true desire on Ms. Idlout’s part to fully rectify each of her past non-compliances.” Finckenstein came to that conclusion after Idlout testified that, though she owns Carvings Nunavut, she does not financially benefit from its operations, nor does she take part in its day to day operations. Idlout has not received any income from the business, which buys and sells Inuit art such as carvings and prints, since before she was elected, according to the commissioner. She testified that any surplus generated from the sale of art after staff salaries,…