Article content continued

Out of 33 appointees identified in news reports as having received letters from LeBlanc, 19 had been re-appointed under good behaviour provisions, meaning they can only be removed with cause.

Others were appointed at pleasure, meaning their appointments can be terminated without reason.

The Prime Minister’s Office says those who were appointed under good behaviour, but who have refused to voluntarily resign, will be referred to parliamentary committees for hearings.

“The committee may call the appointee to appear, however the committees do not have the power to overturn appointments,” PMO spokesman Oliver Duchesneau said in an email.

Duchesneau added that for “those individuals who offered their resignation or were appointed at pleasure, their response will be referred to the responsible minister, who will be communicating with them directly.”

The Liberal approach here has impugned the integrity of qualified people for no good reason

LeBlanc has said the letters are not a judgment on any of the individual appointees. Rather, he said the new government considers the way the appointments were made to be illegitimate, due to lack of transparency and parliamentary scrutiny.

That’s not good enough, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said in an email.

“The Liberal approach here has impugned the integrity of qualified people for no good reason,” said Ambrose.

“If the government can demonstrate that appointments were made for reasons other than merit, they should publicly state those reasons and remove the appointees accordingly. Unless they can do that, they should be left to continue to do the jobs they have done very well.”