The Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly observes that the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon was exposed to a risk of meeting participants whose interests could be related to his ministry, during a pheasant hunting trip last fall, but she concludes that he did not violate the rules in force when he went to an island in Lake Memphremagog during this activity.
In a report filed Wednesday, Ariane Mignolet affirms that Mr. Fitzgibbon did not contravene article 31 of the code within the framework of his participation in the hunting party on the Island, on October 22, 2022.
“The border between the personal sphere and the professional sphere not having been crossed in this case, the minister was not in the exercise of his office, she writes. Thus, he could not place himself in a situation where his personal interest could influence his independence of judgment in the performance of his duties. »
In the same breath, however, the Commissioner warns the Minister of the risks to which he is exposing himself given his intention of repeating the experiment.
“Although the evidence collected in the context of this investigation does not reveal any breach of ethics, it is appropriate to issue a warning, first to the Minister, then also to all the members of the National Assembly”, she says.
The connection between the area of activity of Mr. Fitzgibbon’s department and the files of certain people present at the hunting party on October 22, 2022 justifies increased vigilance on his part with regard to participation in this activity or another of the same kind in the future, she writes.
“It brings together people with varied profiles,” says Ms. Mignolet. However, the field of intervention of the MEIE is vast. There is therefore a risk that professional overlaps exist between the Minister and other persons participating in or invited to the activity. A risk which may, moreover, only be perceived by the Minister once he has arrived on the spot, since the identity of the persons invited is not always known in advance. On the evidence, however, that did not happen here. »
The evidence reveals that Mr. Fitzgibbon and the owner of the island Maurice Pinsonnault are good acquaintances and that they see each other a few times a year in a personal context. It also demonstrates that there has been an absence of professional interactions between the Minister and the owner since the appointment of Mr. Fitzgibbon to the Executive Council in 2018. Their relationship is thus completely unrelated to the performance of the Minister’s duties, which makes it a “purely private relationship,” writes the commissioner.
More details will follow