Hubris.

In politics, hubris manifests in various ways. Sometimes, when governments make promises they don’t keep, it is hubris that prevents them from owning it. Other times hubris causes governments to attempt to cover-up cronyism or corruption because they feel superior to the opposition parties. The idea is that even when their party is corrupt, the alternative would be so much worse.

This week, the Trudeau Government and his Liberal Party showed Canadians that not only are they stellar practitioners of self-congratulatory behaviour, but that they will insult the intelligence of all 40 million of us while doing so.

Enter Martine Richard.

I am sure Richard is a very nice person. She may even be more than qualified to become the new interim Ethics Commissioner. Just one problem – she is the sister-in-law of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, Dominic Leblanc.

My brother’s wife is amazing. One of the most (brutally) honest people I know. I can’t imagine a world where I’d think anyone would accept that she could be the (even interim) Ethics Commissioner.
I’d shudder at what the Liberals (and media) would say. https://t.co/aNZfetZcdA

— Mike Lake (@MikeLakeMP) March 31, 2023

And all the Liberals could muster was the weak justification that the Trudeau Government “followed the rules.”

“As the member opposite knows, the interim ethics commissioner is a career public servant who was, in fact, engaged by the Stephen Harper government to come into the ethics commissioner’s office,” Government House Leader, Mark Holland, said. “She was number two in the ethics commissioner’s office, and she has been working there for over a decade.”

Hear that children? That’s the sound of a Liberal public servant saying the bureaucratic equivalent of “Fuck you, trust us.”

It was conservative MP Michael Barrett who divulged this information during Question Period.

"From the very beginning there were already measures in place to ensure that the work is done professionally and without conflicts given the connections," says PM Trudeau when asked re:  appointment of min. Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as interim ethics commissioner.#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/b5c4h7zAUM

— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) March 31, 2023

“The intergovernmental affairs minister — the new ethics commissioner’s brother-in-law — was found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act, the Prime Minister was found guilty of breaking the Act, the (international) trade minister was found guilty of breaking the Act,” Barrett said. “How can Canadians have confidence in the officers of Parliament if these guys are stacking the deck?”

Conservative Pierre Poilievre on the appointment of the sister-in-law of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc as the Interim Ethics Commissioner. Poilievre has criticized a slew of recent appointments pic.twitter.com/Rl1gtzsiNs

— Judy Trinh (@judyatrinh) March 31, 2023

Remember back in the day when even the appearance of impropriety was enough for ethical public servants to steer clear from situations like this? And for Christ’s sake, this isn’t some rag-tag position, unimportant in the grand scheme of things or irrelevant when it pertains to governmental functions. I mean, some of us did not forget that LeBlanc himself has a sordid track record, especially in the realm of conflict-of-interest.

Imagine the spectacle of watching LeBlanc stepping in front of the Ethics Commissioner sometime in the future, and seeing both of them attempt to maintain a look of faux seriousness as they muddle through whatever LeBlanc is accused of, the credibility of the office of the Ethics Commissioner itself hanging in the balance.