Four years after submitting a report to tighten the guidelines for conflicts of interest, the Ethics Commissioner, Ariane Mignolet, will be heard at the end of November by elected representatives of the National Assembly.
The Committee on Institutions will study from Thursday the document submitted on December 5, 2019 by Ms.me Mignolet. The commissioner will then be heard by the deputies on November 21, indicated to Duty his office.
“The commissioner welcomes the decision of the institutions committee to study the implementation report of the code of ethics and professional conduct for members of the National Assembly 2015-2019,” declared spokesperson Anne-Sophie St-Gelais.
In his document, Mme Mignolet made 22 recommendations to improve the provisions of the code of ethics, adopted in 2010.
It addresses in particular the mechanism for increasing the remuneration of deputies, as well as the question of interests held by elected officials in closed capital companies which have contracts with the State, two questions which have made the headlines in recent years.
Five-year report
In an interview with Dutyin February, Ariane Mignolet recalled that the deputies had not yet looked into the recommendations contained in its implementation report, a document published every five years.
The study of the most recent recommendations, submitted in 2019, therefore occurs as the submission of the next implementation report approaches.
Besides Mme Mignolet, the parliamentarians will also hear Marie Deschamps, jurisconsult of the members of the National Assembly, and Professor Yves Boisvert, of the National School of Public Administration (ENAP).
The deputies also wish to invite representatives of the Institute of Applied Ethics of Laval University, the Commissioner of Lobbying, the Chair of Ethical Management of HEC and the Circle of ex-parliamentarians of the National Assembly of Quebec.
Remuneration
Concerning the increase in salaries, Mme Mignolet recommended in his report an independent mechanism that would allow full compliance with the ethical rules included in the code of ethics.
A few months ago, MPs sparked controversy after passing legislation that increased their base allowance from $101,561 to $131,766 in June.
Two elected officials and a human resources expert were mandated to submit this proposal to them.
In her report, Ariane Mignolet also recommends that elected officials grant her more latitude to judge the risks of conflicts in the case where ministers hold interests in closed-capital companies which have contractual links with the State.
This type of situation hit the headlines due to the numerous troubles of Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, who was blamed for assets he was slow to dispose of.
Among his other recommendations, Mme Mignolet wishes to obtain the power to enforce the code of ethics during electoral campaigns.
During the recent complementary campaign in Jean-Talon, she chose to postpone a decision following a complaint against PQ MP Pascal Bérubé concerning allegations of use of his MP email for partisan purposes.
“In her most recent report on the implementation of the code, the commissioner rightly expressed certain observations, questions and avenues for reflection regarding the management of requests for investigation during such periods,” she recalled at the time. The Ethics Commissioner announced the opening of an investigation after the vote in Jean-Talon in early October.