Premier Wade MacLauchlan announced Shauna Sullivan-Curley, QC, will serve as the province’s first Ethics and Integrity Commissioner.

“It is in the public interest to maintain and strengthen public confidence that the work of government is being conducted with integrity and to the highest ethical standards,” said the Premier. “The establishment of an Ethics and Integrity Commissioner will ensure that the government of Prince Edward Island is conducted in an open, ethical and transparent way.”

Key areas of responsibility include expense disclosure, conflict of interest disclosure within the public service, strengthening the Code of Conduct and Oath of Office, and identifying and overseeing the implementation of new provisions to maintain and strengthen public confidence in the work of government.

Cabinet today confirmed a number of measures to increase transparency and accountability for elected officials and senior officials. Greater disclosure of expenses, including travel, hospitality, and meals, will be extended to all deputy ministers, CEOs, senior advisors, political staff and senior officials beginning April 1. Conflict of interest requirements will be strengthened to include deputy ministers and senior advisors, and include post-employment restrictions similar to those currently applicable to ministers.

Biography:

Shauna Sullivan-Curley, Q. C received her post-secondary education at Dalhousie University in Halifax, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) in 1979 and a Bachelor of Law degree in 1982. In December 2001, Mrs. Curley was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

Mrs. Curley practiced law with the firms Boudreau, Beaton and LaFosse in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Mullin, Carr, Stevenson & MacKay in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

She began her public service career in 1989 with the Prince Edward Island Department of Justice and Attorney General. She has been involved in senior management with the Government of Prince Edward Island, having served as Deputy Minister of Provincial Affairs and Deputy Attorney General, Secretary to the Legislative Review Committee and Counsel to Executive Council, Deputy Minister of Education, and Deputy Minister of Environment, Labour and Justice.

Mrs. Curley has served as president of the Community Legal Information Association of Prince Edward Island, and as president of the Prince Edward Island Branch of the Canadian Bar Association. She has been a director of the Law Foundation of Prince Edward Island and a member of the Advisory Committee on Federal Judicial Appointments.