No Bombardier conflict, says Fitzgibbon
Fitzgibbon has shares in parts supplier while working to mediate 2,500 layoffs
The province’s ethics commissioner QUEBEC has opened an investigation into allegations of conflict of interest on the part of the province’s minister responsible for the economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon. On the same day as Fitzgibbon insisted he has done nothing wrong and would welcome an investigation, the commissioner acted on a request from Parti Québécois MNA Martin Ouellet to probe ties between Fitzgibbon and a firm supplying parts to the Bombardier transportation giant. Fitzgibbon holds 8,300 shares in Héroux-Devtek, which supplies landing gear parts to Bombardier for its Learjets and CRJ regional jets. The shares are estimated to be worth about $105,000. But at the same time as owning the shares, Fitzgibbon has been at the heart of the government’s efforts the last few weeks to mediate Bombardier’s decision to lay off 5,000 workers — 2,500 in Quebec — as part of a restructuring plan. And on Friday, following a meeting with Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare, Fitzgibbon said he was “open” to further government aid for the struggling company and in particular to save the firm’s CRJ regional jet program. Fitzgibbon becomes the first minister in the newly elected Coalition Avenir Québec government to undergo such a process with the ethics commissioner, which was relatively commonplace in the previous Liberal years. Ethics commissioner Ariane Mignolet confirmed the investigation in a statement in which she says Ouellet wants her to probe five specific incidents in which Fitzgibbon is alleged to have intervened to help Bombardier. She quotes Ouellet who says he has “reasonable motives” to believe Fitzgibbon failed to respect the National Assembly’s official code of ethics and behaviour applicable to all of its 125 members. The ethics commissioner is independent of the politicians, but its reports are made public in the legislature. Arriving for a daylong meeting of the CAQ caucus Tuesday morning, Fitzgibbon told reporters he resigned from Héroux-Devtek’s board of directors the day after he was elected to the legislature as part of the Coalition Avenir Québec government. The 8,300 shares he owns in the company are already being administered by an independent broker who is in the process of transferring them into a blind trust, as is required when a politician enters the cabinet. “It is a broker who has managed my shares for years,” Fitzgibbon said. “When I left the Héroux-Devtek board, my shares were shifted into that account. Since Oct. 3, I cannot see what is in the account,” he added. Fitzgibbon said he would welcome any investigation by the ethics commissioner because it will clear the air. “I am completely at ease with the investigation,” Fitzgibbon said. Later, reacting to the news the investigation had been opened, Fitzgibbon said he will stay on the job as minister pending the end of the investigation. “Not only am I not in a conflict but I am qualified to handle this file,” Fitzgibbon told reporters leaving the caucus in the evening. “I see no issue here for me.” It was TVA that revealed details of Fitzgibbon’s holdings in the firm. Asked if his minister is in a conflict, Premier François Legault swept by reporters saying, “Not at all.” And Fitzgibbon said his priority now at Bombardier is the 2,500 jobs. “Today I serve a different shareholder — all Quebecers,” Fitzgibbon said. But the opposition was not accepting his explanations. Interim Liberal leader Pierre Arcand accused Legault in a tweet of having a double standard: demanding former Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau sell his Québecor shares because of potential conflict, yet accepting that his minister keep them in a blind trust. Later, he called on Fitzgibbon to withdraw from issues involving Bombardier pending the results of the commissioner’s investigation. And Ouellet, the Parti Québécois ethics point person, demanded an investigation by the ethics commissioner, which he has obtained.