An Ottawa lobbyist admits she didn’t comply with the City of Ottawa’s code of conduct rules after paying for the lunch of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s chief of staff, but says the integrity commissioner found no conflict of interest and has “closed the matter.” Candidate Alex Lawson filed a complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner Karen Shepherd last month, asking her to launch an investigation into alleged code of conduct breaches by Syntax Strategic and CEO Jennifer Stewart. Lawson claims on his website the mayor “engaged in inappropriate conversations between members of his former campaign staff who are now lobbyists.” Lawson published 100 pages of documents filed through municipal access to information requests to make the allegations and posted them to his campaign website. The documents posted to Lawson’s website show emails between Syntax Strategic and the mayor’s office coordinating lunches and meetings. Stewart has long ties to Sutcliffe, including having served as one of the honourary campaign co-chairs in his 2022 mayoral campaign. On Monday, Stewart acknowledged to the integrity commissioner in a compliance agreement posted online that she paid for the lunch of a “public officer holder” in January 2026 and did not comply fully with the terms of the Lobbyist Registry Bylaw 2012-309 and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct. “I understand that acknowledgement of my non-compliance does not constitute an admission of intentional wrongdoing,” Stewart said in the report. “I am now fully aware of the relevant provisions of the Lobbyist Registry Bylaw 2012- 309 and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct. The Integrity Commissioner acknowledges that I and my organization have a good compliance history and that I fully cooperated with the Commissioner in this matter.” Complaint was “without merit” In a lengthy statement to CTV News Ottawa, Stewart said the integrity commissioner had “fully resolved” the allegations made against her and found there was no conflict of interest. She said Syntax remains in good standing with the integrity commissioner. “From the moment these allegations surfaced, I knew they were without merit because I knew we had conducted ourselves with integrity. I welcomed an independent review and was confident that a fair examination of the evidence would reach the right conclusion. It has,” she wrote. “Following that comprehensive review, the only corrective action arising from the entire matter related to the payment of a single personal lunch—an unintentional oversight that was resolved through a Compliance Agreement. There were no findings of conflict of interest and no basis for proceeding to a formal investigation.” Stewart adds that she retained Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP to represent her before the commissioner. She is asking “those who publicly advanced and repeated these allegations” to apologize. “What has been most disappointing is not that a complaint was filed - independent oversight is an important part of public accountability. It is that serious allegations were amplified publicly before the facts were known,” she said. “Accountability should apply to everyone.” Section 6 of the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct says those with active lobbying registrations, their registered clients or their employees shall not, directly, or indirectly, officer or provide any gift, benefit or hospitality to members of council or their staff. In the compliance agreement, the integrity commissioner acknowledges that the matter is now closed and will not impose any sanctions with regards to the complaint. The agreement did not mention the other allegations made by Lawson and did not name the staffer involved. Stewart tells CTV News the lunch at issue took place with the mayor’s chief of staff Mathieu Gravel. She believes the complaints made against her and the firm were “sweeping allegations” pointed in a “politically motivated” way. She says three allegations made by Lawson were dismissed at the outset and a fourth “was accepted” with no further action taken. The fifth, resulted in the compliance agreement. Stewart says an additional five discretionary matters were reviewed and did not result in findings of breach, penalties or enforcement. In a statement, Lawson did not apologize. “I blew the whistle. They admitted to breaking the rules, and now they want to sue me for blowing the whistle. I am going to continue to blow the whistle on the cozy relationship between the mayor’s office and his friends,” Lawson said in an emailed statement.
