Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon faces another ethics investigation

Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon is the subject of a new investigation by the ethics commissioner about possible violations of the National Assembly's ethics code.

The opening of the investigation, confirmed Friday by the commissioner, follows a request made earlier this week by Parti Qubcois MNA Jol Arseneau.

It is the fifth ethics investigation for Fitzgibbon.

Arseneau had written to commissioner Ariane Mignolet earlier this week requesting an investigation intoFitzgibbon's November 2021 authorization of an investment of $24 million in LMPG, the parent company of the lighting manufacturer Lumenpulse.

In his request, Arseneau said he had"reasonable grounds" to believethatFitzgibbon hadbreachedsections 15 and 16 of theethics codebecause one of the shareholders and administrators of LMPG, Michel Ringuet, "had a contractual relationship with the minister as an agent of his blind trust."

Arseneau also notedFitzgibbon himself was an administrator of the company from 2013 to 2017.

In accordance withthe code of ethics, the commissioner's investigation will be done confidentially. A report with conclusions and recommendations will be sent to the National Assembly and made public.

Not the first time in hot water

In June 2021, Fitzgibbon gave up his position as Quebec's economy ministerwhile remaining an MNAfollowing the tabling of a highly critical report by the ethics commissioner, which recommended that he be suspended from the National Assembly.

Commissioner Mignolet ruled,for the second time in six months, that Fitzgibbon violated ethics rules for ministers by owning shares in companies that do business with the government.

He was forced to either leave cabinet or lose more than $1 million in personal investments.

He chose the latter, but was reinstated three months later after he sold shares in two companies in order to comply with requirements laid out by the ethics commissioner.

In November 2020,Fitzgibbonbecame the first Quebec cabinet minister to be censured by the members of the legislature for ethics violations.

In October of that year,Mignoletruled thatFitzgibbonhadviolated thecode of ethics and said he must be reprimanded in relation to his exchanges with his friend and lobbyist Luc Laperrire.

The investigation began in 2019, whenMignolet received another requestfor an investigation concerning the appointment of Guy LeBlanc as president and CEO of Investissement Qubec (IQ), given the ties of friendship between Fitzgibbon and LeBlanc.

Mignolet found that Fitzgibbon did not violate the code by appointing LeBlanc.