Federal Liberals have gone more than six months without appointing ethics commissioner
CTV
The federal government has remained without a conflict-of-interest and ethics watchdog for more than six months -- a vacancy that the most recent commissioner says is putting investigations on hold and could allow violations to go unnoticed.
The federal government has remained without a conflict-of-interest and ethics watchdog for more than six months -- a vacancy that the most recent commissioner says is putting investigations on hold and could allow violations to go unnoticed.
Mario Dion retired in February after serving as the last permanent conflict-of-interest and ethics commissioner.
A longtime staffer in that office, Martine Richard, took on an interim role in April. But she resigned within weeks amid controversy around the fact she is the sister-in-law of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
Investigations that would normally be conducted by a commissioner are on pause until a permanent replacement is found.
Dion said the role serves as a good safeguard to detect corruption, and Canadians should care that the instruments it has are being used.
"It's a little bit like judicial appointments. If you don't appoint judges, it will be hard to deliver justice," Dion said in an interview.
"So it means that things can go essentially unpunished and unnoticed for a period of time until a new person has been appointed."
