Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion announced he will be retiring Feb. 21 due to "persistent health issues."."I have been honoured to serve Parliament and Canadians … and am grateful for the confidence Parliament has placed in me. It is my hope that I have contributed in some measure to transparency and accountability in support of Canadian democracy," Dion said in a statement.."Regrettably, I cannot continue to discharge the responsibilities of the position because of persistent health issues and will be stepping down effective Feb. 21, 2023. I wish the office and the next commissioner well moving forward.".Dion was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in 2018 and was set to serve a seven-year term. Before that, Dion worked for 43 years in the public sector, including as chair of the National Parole Board, chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, and public sector integrity commissioner. .While serving as ethics commissioner, Dion repeatedly found Trudeau and his cabinet members flouting federal ethics laws. In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was found to have breached the Conflict of Interest Act by vacationing on a private island owned by the Aga Khan..During the SNC-Lavalin scandal, Trudeau again broke the act by pressuring then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to get her to grant a deferred prosecution agreement to the Quebec-based firm. More recently, International Trade Minister Mary Ng was forced to apologize after putting herself in a conflict of interest by giving communications contracts to a public relations agency run by her friend Amanda Alvaro..Dion said during a year-end interview with CTV News that while finding such cases "sucks," the fact that they are discovered at all means the system is working..READ MORE: Liberal MP Greg Fergus violates ethics rules.In his statement, Dion said that those in public office have a "sacred duty to always act in the interest of the public they serve." He thanked all employees in his office for their "hard work and dedication in helping me fulfill my mandate," including by developing and following new processes and procedures to make the office run more efficiently. .Back in 2019, Dion took a prolonged leave of absence for medical reasons, but did not specify why..Dion's resignation came just one day after Liberal MP Greg Fergus was found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act. Fergus, a parliamentary secretary, wrote a letter of support for a television channel's application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for mandatory carriage. While MPs are allowed to write letters of support to the CRTC, parliamentary secretaries and cabinet ministers cannot. .Dion said that training and educational sessions have been offered to all federal parties, yet there has continued to be a "succession of mistakes that are largely attributable to the inability to recognize the need to seek consultation," Commissioner Mario Dion said Tuesday."I therefore recommend the government consider mandating all ministers and parliamentary secretaries to receive training from the office," he added.
