Downtown Charlottetown, PEI is seen in this November, 2009, file photo.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
Prince Edward Island's conflict of interest commissioner has resigned his post, saying he had "no alternative" after losing the confidence of the members he serves and advises in the Legislative Assembly.
Neil Robinson's decision comes days after the province's Progressive Conservative Leader, Rob Lantz, demanded an emergency sitting of the legislature to vote on having Mr. Robinson removed.
The resignation follows a Globe and Mail investigation that found lax scrutiny of government officials that allowed them to invest in an online financial hub that, as only a few knew, was part of a planned eGambling operation. Mr. Robinson invested $15,000 in Capital Markets Technology. Other investors include a lawyer who is a close friend of former premier Robert Ghiz and later advised on a phase of the deal; and the wife of Mr. Ghiz's chief of staff.
The Globe report prompted the province's new Liberal Premier, Wade MacLauchlan, to announce last week that he would strengthen PEI's conflict-of-interest rules, amid opposition calls for a judicial inquiry into gaming revelations.
Mr. Robinson has been the conflict commissioner since 1999, a part-time position. He also works as a lawyer for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He invested in Capital Markets Technologies in August, 2012 – one of a number of senior officials who invested in the companies involved with creating a financial transaction hub in the province. The planned operation, which was to be located on aboriginal land to try to circumvent the Criminal Code, led to the first formal securities case in PEI's history.
Mr. Robinson had defended his investment, telling The Globe in an interview last month that he asked if the government was involved in financing the company and was assured it was not. So, he went ahead and invested. He also told The Globe that if any complaint was raised about the company, he would recuse himself.
The province abandoned the idea of becoming an international online gambling hub in early 2012 but was still interested in pushing ahead with the broader global transaction platform and loyalty card program.
The Globe probe has created concern about government transparency and accountability on the island.
Mr. Robinson did not return calls Sunday. However, in a statement, he explains he asked the legislative committee to which his office reports, to review his investment in CMT to "determine whether or not I had the confidence of the committee to continue in the position of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner for the Legislative Assembly."
The committee was to meet March 16 to look at the issue.
But it was pre-empted by Mr. Lantz's demands and also allegations by former PC interim leader Steven Myers that he had been advised by Mr. Robinson last November not to pursue a formal complaint against then finance minister Wes Sheridan over issues he believed were related to the online gambling file.
Mr. Robinson denies Mr. Myers's allegations. In his statement, he says that Mr. Myers's "recollection of the conversation does not match mine and does not make sense."
He said, however, that he had no choice but to step down.
"The decision by Mr. Myers to publicly advance such a story and Mr. Lantz's decision, based on that same story, to call for an emergency sitting of the Legislative Assembly make it abundantly clear that I, as an independent officer of the Legislature, do not have the necessary confidence of the Assembly," he wrote in his statement.
Peter McQuaid, president of the PC Party on PEI, said Mr. Robinson did the " honourable thing in stepping down."
"I think that you have to be very careful about conflict and that's not necessarily passing judgment on him," he said.
In an interview in January with The Globe, Mr. Robinson explained why he invested and has left his money in, although some of the investors opted to get out, earning 12-per-cent interest.
He was one of 36 islanders who invested a combined $701,030 in CMT.
"I invested for one reason and that was this transaction technology coming to, I hoped, PEI and so far that is still a possibility but it hasn't happened yet and it may never," he said.