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Even more disturbing than former economy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon’s long-running violation of conflict-of-interest regulations is the Legault government’s evident attitude that it can pick and choose which laws to obey.
After several critical reports by Ethics Commissioner Ariane Mignolet, Fitzgibbon finally stepped down as minister Wednesday. The issue is that Fitzgibbon continues to hold stakes in two companies that do business with the government. No one is accusing Fitzgibbon of having profited from that situation, but Mignolet has ruled that those investments put him into a conflict of interest under the ethics law adopted in 2010, a law that Fitzgibbon should have been aware of before he entered politics. In her latest report, Mignolet said Fitzgibbon should either step down as minister and put the investments in a blind trust, or be suspended from the National Assembly until he disposes of the investments.