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After a wide-ranging complaint about Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s relationship with a lobbying firm was resolved without penalty, the company’s CEO has acknowledged she didn’t comply with the rules by buying lunch for the mayor’s chief of staff.
Integrity commissioner Karen Shepherd was asked to look into a complaint made by mayoral candidate Alex Lawson, who alleged last month that Syntax Strategic and its CEO Jennifer Stewart had breached the city’s lobbyist bylaw and code of conduct in at least five different ways.
But a compliance agreement made public on Monday says the matter is now closed and neither Stewart nor her company will face any sanctions. She called the result a vindication.
“There is no conflict of interest, improper lobbying or any unregistered activity,” Stewart said in an interview with CBC on Monday. “We were and we remain in good standing, so the outcome is exactly what we thought it would be.”
Lawson’s allegations were based on 100 pages of correspondence between Syntax and the mayor’s office, obtained through a freedom of information request.
He accused Syntax staff of failing to register lobbying activity after asking the mayor to appear at a hotel opening and providing him with talking points. He made the same allegation about a walkabout where the mayor visited Carp, noting that Syntax provided a list of businesses he could pop in on.
His complaint also accused the company of filing an improper return after lobbying for the prospective sale of the Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre landfill site to the city. More broadly, it alleged that Syntax put the mayor in a conflict of interest, in part because Stewart had worked on Sutcliffe’s 2022 campaign.
“Three allegations were dismissed at the outset,” Stewart told CBC, adding that a fourth was resolved later in the process after Syntax’s explanation on the landfill site “was accepted.”
“This was, frankly, a personal and politically motivated attack and we withstood significant scrutiny.”
Pasta purchase an ‘honest mistake’
But a fifth allegation was not dismissed. On Monday, Shepherd posted a compliance agreement online where Stewart admitted to a single contravention.
“In January of 2026, I paid for the meal of a Member’s staff while I and other Syntax Strategic employees were maintaining active lobbying files. By doing so, I inadvertently placed myself in contravention of Section 6(3) of the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct,” the agreement says, referring to a section on gifts, benefits and hospitality.
Sutcliffe’s chief of staff, Mathieu Gravel, told CBC in an interview last month that he had lunch with Stewart and she paid for his pasta at Fratelli restaurant in Kanata, which he said cost approximately $20. Stewart confirmed on Monday that was the lunch at issue.
She called it an “unintentional oversight” and an “honest mistake.”
“Mr. Gravel came out to Kanata. I live in Carp. He’s downtown. I thought it was kind to pay for a single lunch,” she said.
“I accept full responsibility for that mistake. It was not done intentionally. This was a personal lunch and it’s great reinforcement from the integrity commissioner on the rules, and we intend to follow those rules going forward.”
The compliance agreement confirms that Stewart is now aware of her obligations and will comply with them. It notes that she fully co-operated and has a good past history of compliance. Such agreements are used in place of stiffer sanctions the integrity commissioner could have imposed, but didn’t, such as a lobbying ban.
The agreement does not explicitly explain what the integrity commissioner found in relation to the other four allegations, though it does say the complaint is “resolved” and her office “will consider the matter closed.”
Shepherd told CBC that the process is confidential and she can’t divulge any further information, though she confirmed that the matter is resolved.
Lawson dismisses agreement as ‘useless’
When he made his complaint, Lawson said the correspondence he obtained pointed to a “cozy relationship” between Sutcliffe and Syntax.
In a statement on Monday, he called the compliance agreement “useless.”
“This was never about who paid for pasta,” Lawson said in a statement conveyed through his campaign manager. “It’s about who’s whispering in the mayor’s ear. This conclusion is useless and will do nothing toward making sure Mark Sutcliffe is listening to the people of Ottawa instead of insiders.”
Stewart rejected that argument and demanded an apology. She said she is considering legal action, including for defamation of character.
“I am an ethical business person. Syntax operates well within the guidelines of the integrity commissioner and the lobby commissioner. Mr. Sutcliffe is a man of integrity and I am a business person of integrity. There is not a cozy relationship here, and this report proves that,” she said.
“When serious allegations made online are not supported by an independent review, the right thing to do is to acknowledge the harm caused and to apologize, and I believe Mr. Lawson should just do exactly that and apologize.”
Asked for comment, Sutcliffe’s office acknowledged that the matter is closed and thanked Shepherd for her work.