Martine Richard | |
---|---|
Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada | |
In office 27 March 2023 –19 April 2023 | |
Preceded by | Mario Dion |
Personal details | |
Relatives | Dominic Leblanc (brother-in-law) |
Occupation | Civil servant |
Martine Richard is a Canadian public servant who served as the interim conflict of interest and ethics commissioner of Canada. She was appointed on 27 March 2023,succeeding Mario Dion. [1] Richard's appointment was intended to be interim for a six-month period,until a regular appointment was made,but she resigned several weeks after the appointment. [2] [3]
In the days after her appointment,opposition parties criticized her appointment to the role,due to her perceived closeness to the government. [4] She is Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law. [4] [5]
Prior to her appointment as interim commissioner,Richard worked in the commissioner's office since 2013, [6] having served as a senior legal adviser and investigator since 2015. [4] During investigations into the SNC-Lavalin affair,she recused herself from at least two investigations due to perceived conflict of interest. [7] [8] [9] In 2018,Richard also recused herself from an investigation of LeBlanc in which he was found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act for awarding a lucrative fishing licence to a company linked to his wife's cousin. [10] [11]
On 18 April 2023,a motion was passed at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information,Privacy and Ethics to review the appointment and require Richard and LeBlanc to testify. [2] The following day,Richard resigned as ethics commissioner,returning to her previous role as a lawyer in the ethics commissioner's office. [12] [13]
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