A non-partisan government accountability organization plans to take the Liberal government to court over their rushed appointment of the new ethics commissioner.
Democracy Watch is crying foul over the selection of Mario Dion as the replacement for outgoing commissioner Mary Dawson and labelling the appointment process that’s unfolded this past week as “illegal”.
The Liberals announced their pick for the post on Monday, then announced a last minute one-hour Tuesday committee meeting where opposition MPs had seven minutes to ask questions of Dion. Wednesday was the last day the House of Commons was sitting before the Christmas break.
“If the NDP and Conservatives don’t go to court over this – challenging the fact that they were not consulted and that’s a violation of the Parliament of Canada Act – Democracy Watch is going to file a court case challenging this as an illegal appointment,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, appearing Thursday morning on the SiriusXM Canada program National Post Radio.
The watchdog has a history of challenging past governments on government accountability measures. But Conacher says the Liberals have been worse on some fronts than the Harper Conservative and previous Liberal era.
“They’re just shoving these people down the opposition’s throat and the public’s throat with little notice and little review and that’s illegal,” adds Conacher. “You’re required to consult in every case.”
The hastily composed committee meeting was denounced by both Conservative and NDP MPs. “It’s just ragingly incompetent and frustrating and cynical,” NDP ethics critic Nathan Cullen said Tuesday.
At the meeting, Dion would not confirm whether or not he’d pick up where Mary Dawson left off when it came to the ongoing ethics investigations against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
The idea that a Liberal appointee might drop investigations into Liberal cabinet ministers was troubling to many members of the committee, but Dion’s appointment was still approved in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Prior to the committee meeting, Democracy Watch released a tally of eight of what they call “unethical and questionable actions” undertaken by Mario Dion from when he previously served as Integrity Commissioner.
It draws attention to how a 2014 federal auditor general report found “gross mismanagement” in Dion’s office. It also says that in 2011 Dion secretly warned the Clerk of the Privy Council of an issue that could cause their office embarrassment.
“I think he violated the law he was supposed to be enforcing at the time, the whistle blower protection act, by tipping off the privy council clerk,” said Conacher. “So this is the guy’s instincts: to tip off his friends with inside information to protect them. That’s not someone you want as ethics commissioner.”
Mary Dawson’s term is set to expire on January 8.
Listen to Anthony Furey interview Duff Conacher here: