One of Dion’s last acts as Ethics Commissioner was to recommend mandatory ethics training for all government ministers and parliamentary secretaries.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has resigned.
Citing health issues, Dion has announced that he will step down on February 21st, 2023.
Dion is five years into a seven-year term, and previously taken a leave of absence in 2019 due to health issues.
Dion has been quite busy during his time as Ethics Commissioner, with the Liberal government having violated ethics laws on many occasions. In fact, Justin Trudeau was the first Prime Minister to have been found to have broken ethics laws.
Things have become so bad that Dion even suggested that all federal ministers and parliamentary secretaries take mandatory ethics training.
You can read Dion’s full statement below:
“I have been honoured to serve Parliament and Canadians as Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner for the past five years and am grateful for the confidence Parliament has placed in me. It is my hope that I have contributed in some measure to transparency and accountability in support of Canadian democracy.
Those in public office have a sacred duty to always act in the interest of the public they serve. I commend regulatees for taking their obligations under the conflict of interest regimes seriously and working with the Office to achieve and maintain compliance. Many have taken advantage of the learning opportunities offered by the Office as part of its new, proactive approach to education. Their willingness to learn and follow the rules confirms my belief that the vast majority are honest people who want to do the right thing.
I thank all Office employees for their hard work and dedication in helping me fulfill my mandate. This includes developing and following new processes and procedures that have helped the Office become more efficient and effective. Among them are a three-day service standard for responding to regulatees’ requests for advice, a transparency-by-default approach to inquiries from the media and members of the public, and a targeted 12-month timeframe for conducting investigations, which we met for all those completed during my mandate.
I firmly believe that educating regulatees and the public about the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest serves to help restore Canadians’ trust in public officials and the institutions in which they serve and, ultimately, in our democracy.
The role of Commissioner is a fitting one from which to retire after 43 years of public service. Regrettably, I cannot continue to discharge the responsibilities of the position because of persistent health issues and will be stepping down effective February 21, 2023. I wish the Office and the next Commissioner well moving forward.”
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube