PM oblivious to optics of ethics appointment By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 5, 2023 Last Modified: 6:51 AM CDT Thursday, Apr. 6, 2023 Updates

Opinion

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This article was published 05/04/2023 (891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a single sentence uttered during question period in the House of Commons last week, Conservative MP Michael Barrett likely summed up the reaction of millions of Canadians:

“Mr. Speaker, they’ve got to be kidding.”

The rather pointed preamble from the MP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes was attached to a query regarding whether the Martine Richard appointed to serve as Canada’s ethics commissioner on an interim basis is, in fact, the same Martine Richard who is the sister-in-law of federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

The answer, of course, is yes. And despite the numerous justifications, rationalizations and deflections offered by Liberal government house leader Mark Holland in response to Mr. Barrett’s persistent questioning, there’s no denying the optics of this perplexing pronouncement are nothing short of exasperating.

Why on earth would a government led by a prime minister who has twice been found in contravention of federal ethics laws appoint to such a high-profile position a relative of a cabinet minister who has also been found in contravention of those same laws?

It’s a question that confounds. It’s also a question that, lamentably, pretty much answers itself. A government with not a whit of self-awareness about its track record of ethics violations and conflicts of interest actually seems rather well suited to an appointment as tone-deaf as this one is.

In defending the elevation of Ms. Richard to the interim post, Mr. Holland pointed out that she is a career civil servant whose efforts in the ethics commissioner’s office date back more than a decade, to the administration of erstwhile prime minister Stephen Harper.

Mr. Holland argued it makes “absolute and complete logical sense” for someone with her experience and abilities to assume the role until the office of the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner completes the “open, transparent and merit-based selection process” that will lead to the selection of the country’s next ethics watchdog.

As impeccable as the newly appointed interim commissioner’s credentials might be, there’s no escaping the familial connection to the Trudeau cabinet that will cast a shadow over every decision Ms. Richard makes (or doesn’t) during what is intended to be a six-month stint in the position.

As impeccable as the newly appointed interim commissioner’s credentials might be, there’s no escaping the familial connection to the Trudeau cabinet that will cast a shadow over every decision Ms. Richard makes (or doesn’t) during what is intended to be a six-month stint in the position.

After the retirement in February of former commissioner Mario Dion — who found Mr. Trudeau and members of his inner circle in violation of ethics laws numerous times during his five years in the role — the assertion by Opposition MPs such as Mr. Barrett that the Liberals now have “an inside man” (or, in this case, woman) in charge of ethics oversight is one that will surely register with many Canadians.

Regardless of whether Ms. Richard comports herself with the utmost integrity and independence, the Liberals have handed the Opposition a golden opportunity, from now to the next federal election, to score political points every time the word “ethics” is uttered in or near Ottawa’s corridors of power.

Eminently qualified though she might be, surely Ms. Richard is not the only person with the necessary attributes for this job. Another choice — one unencumbered by unfortunate familial connections — must have been somewhere within eyeshot.

The Liberals have handed the Opposition a golden opportunity, from now to the next federal election, to score political points every time the word “ethics” is uttered in or near Ottawa’s corridors of power.

As was the case when he named longtime family friend David Johnston — also qualified, but also connected — as the special rapporteur on foreign election interference, Mr. Trudeau has made a decision that suggests an unfettered sense of entitlement and a blissful ignorance of how Canadians not raised in rarefied privilege might perceive such an appointment.

Once again, the answer to the inevitable “What were they thinking?” boils down to basically this: pretty much the same thing they always do.