A Federal Court judge has overturned a 17-year-old public inquiry report that found former Mulroney cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens in a conflict of interest over some personal business dealings.

"I'm very pleased and I'm hoping this will change the image people have of me," Stevens, now 77, told the Toronto Star after the 23-page ruling was released Thursday.

"It's been extremely damaging to me as I try to get back into the business world. It's a dreadful experience to go through."

Sinclair Stevens in 2000 (CP photo)
Sinclair Stevens in 2000 (CP photo)

After the conflict allegations surfaced in 1986, the Progressive Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of York-Peel resigned from Brian Mulroney's cabinet.

Mulroney called a public inquiry, which was headed by former Ontario Supreme Court chief justice William Parker and televised nationally.

Loan from Magna cited in conflict report

Parker's 1987 report said Stevens was in "a real conflict of interest" in at least six situations while serving as a cabinet minister, and had benefited personally from his federal connections.

Principally, Parker said Stevens had gotten involved in approving federal funds for auto parts maker Magna International Inc. The company had provided a $2.6-million loan to a company owned by Stevens's family.

In agreeing to Stevens's request to overturn Parker's findings, Justice John O'Keefe said Parker had drafted his own definition of "conflict of interest." The term wasn't defined in the codes of conduct applied to cabinet members during the 20 months that Stevens was minister of regional industrial expansion.

Such a task was outside the inquiry leader's jurisdiction, O'Keefe ruled.

Furthermore, he said, Stevens wasn't given the opportunity to react to the definition before Parker's report was released.

Stevens remained involved in politics behind the scenes after Mulroney refused to sign his nomination papers before the 1988 election, stymying his attempt to be re-elected.

Late last year, for example, he launched a legal challenge against the merger of the federal Progressive Conservative party and the Canadian Alliance party.