Simon Jolin-Barrette cleared by ethics commissioner after appointing friend to judge position

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Quebec City — The National Assembly's Ethics Commissioner, Ariane Mignolet, has concluded that Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was not at fault when he appointed his friend Charles-Olivier Gosselin to the position of judge.

The commissioner asserts that the minister acted in accordance with the usual process for selecting and appointing judges.

"Indeed, the minister followed the clear and explicit rules governing his role as Minister of Justice. The minister's testimony also reveals that his decision to recommend Charles-Olivier Gosselin as a candidate for the position of judge was based solely on the latter's competence and on the personalized assessment contained in the selection committee's report," says Mignolet.

Last May, Le Soleil revealed that Minister Jolin-Barrette had recommended his friend as a judge for the Court of Québec. The minister celebrated Gosselin's marriage in 2015. It was Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji who asked the commissioner to investigate this story.

However, Mignolet has reservations about the situation in which the minister found himself.

"Although I have concluded that the minister did not improperly promote the interests of Judge Gosselin, he nevertheless found himself, by force of circumstance, in a delicate situation that fosters the appearance of a conflict of interest due to his close relationship with Judge Gosselin," stated the commissioner in her report.

She added that thought should be given to a mechanism for resolving this type of situation while preserving public confidence in the judicial selection and appointment process.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 12, 2023.