Quebec justice minister open to changing conflict of interest rules
CBC
After a few days of controversy for appointing one of his friends as a judge, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says he is open to changing the rules around conflicts of interest.
In a press scrum Sunday morning at the Coalition Avenir Québec convention in Sherbrooke, Que., he said that if he had to do it again, he would have declared a conflict.
He did not do so when he appointed his friend Charles-Olivier Gosselin as a judge at the Court of Quebec in early May.
There is currently no obligation for the minister to declare a conflict of interest. However, Jolin-Barrette said he was ready to amend the current regulation that requires the ministry to disclose any conflict of interest before proceeding with a judge's appointment.
"Should the regulations be amended to provide for this? I am open to amending the regulations to add a provision like this, to make things clearer," said Jolin-Barrette.
At the moment, an independent committee proposes a list with a maximum of three names to the minister, who then endorses one of them.
Jolin-Barrette also had to justify the cancellation of five calls for applications for judgeships since 2020. He said it was in the interests of justice to issue a second notice of candidacy for these vacancies.
Prime Minister François Legault insisted on defending the decisions of his minister.
"I don't see the minister's job as someone who stamps the decision all the time. It may happen that he assesses that these people are not ideal for the job," said Legault.
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