Andre Marin out as Ontario ombud (for now), as Liberals tap deputy as fill-in

Liberal government appoints his deputy in acting role while hiring process continues. But this does not mean he could not be back ...

Thestar.com
Sept. 15, 2015
By Rob Ferguson

Andre Marin is out as Ontario’s ombudsman - unless an all-party committee of MPPs agrees to hire him back for a third term.

The Liberal government followed through Tuesday with plans to let Marin’s extended second term expire and appointed his deputy, Barbara Finlay, as acting ombudsman until a full-time replacement is found.

New Democrats had urged the government to keep Marin in place while a deadlocked hiring committee goes back to the drawing board to begin the process anew.

Liberal House Leader Yasir Naqvi criticized the NDP for rejecting motions to appoint Finlay temporarily as “playing politics.”

“We believe we had no choice but to fill this vacancy ... the government’s preference was to have this appointment agreed to by all three parties,” he said in a letter to opposition parties Tuesday.

The New Democrats made it clear Monday that they preferred Marin, whom they would like to see appointed to anther term, stay in place with another extension and that the Liberals were not fans of Marin, who took the government to task on many issues.

“The Liberals have always not liked Marin,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told reporters.

Marin held a news conference Monday to say he planned to reapply for his the $236,000-a-year job as the hiring panel goes back to square one, but said “it now appears the whole process was shambolic.”

“I would implore parliamentarians to keep politics out,” added Marin, who said he had “every reason to believe” he was being re-hired after his references were checked in July.

Asked if he felt the Liberals were determined to force him out, Marin replied: “that concerns me, of course ... being an ombudsman is not an easy job ... I don’t expect to be invited to afternoon tea in the premier’s office.”

Marin and the legislature’s human resources department would not comment on whether he is entitled to any severance pay.

Other candidates on the all-party committee’s short list were Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean and federal Corrections Investigator Howard Sapers, the ombudsman for prisoner complaints.

Horwath said the NDP would not support Sapers, who is a former provincial Liberal leader from Alberta.

Marin’s second five-year term expired in May, but was extended until Monday by agreement of all parties to allow for the hiring process to take place over the summer.