Ethics Commissioner Ariane Mignolet has concluded that the Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, did not commit a breach with respect to the granting of $24 million in financing to a company in which the manager of its assets is a shareholder.
“As the Minister does not have a personal interest in this case, he could not have placed himself in a situation where his personal interest could influence his independence of judgment in the exercise of his duties,” concludes the Commissioner.
According to the report, Mr. Fitzgibbon did not act or exercise influence in such a way as to favor, in an abusive manner, the interests of Michel Ringuet or of the company to which the latter is linked.
Mr. Ringuet was at the time mandated to manage the assets of Mr. Fitzgibbon placed in a blind mandate, a provision which aims to avoid the minister any appearance of conflict of interest.
The commissioner’s investigation was carried out at the request of the Parti Québécois. Parti Québécois MP Joël Arseneau had filed a complaint concerning a decision by Mr. Fitzgibbon to authorize an investment of $24 million in LMPG, the company that controls the Lumenpulse company.
The request stated that “the Minister authorized this transaction while one of the shareholders and directors of the company […] had a contractual relationship with the Minister, acting as agent for his blind trust”.
In addition, the request mentions that the Minister “has himself been a director of the company between 2013 and 2017”. In this context, the MNA for Îles-de-la-Madeleine asked for an investigation “to determine whether the Minister’s actions and interventions in this file have had or could have the effect of favoring the interests [de son mandataire] and whether the Minister’s past duties with the company may have interfered with his ability to make this decision”.
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