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OTTAWA — The Senate ethics watchdog has little to say after a Conservative senator accused him of being “unethical,” allegedly accessing her emails without her consent. Sen. Elizabeth Marshall first raised her alarm during a speech in the Senate chamber Monday when she confirmed the Senate Ethics Officer reached out to her in March with a request for documents to help with an inquiry related to a former senator. “I was asked to provide notes and correspondence during my term as government whip in the Senate,” she said. “I searched my records, including files, emails and journals, and provided copies of all relevant information which I found.” Watch: Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains introduces digital charter

The Conservative senator said she got a tip the Senate Ethics Officer had “recently attempted to access and search” her emails without her knowledge. Marshall said she took steps to confirm it before reading her claim into the Senate record. “It is totally unacceptable that anyone should attempt to access the emails of any senator without that senator’s knowledge or consent,” she said. “I’m not the subject of the inquiry and I have nothing to hide,” Marshall, a former auditor general of Newfoundland and Labrador, added A statement posted on the Senate Ethics Officer’s website this week defended the watchdog’s authority to access senators’ records relevant to an active inquiry. It cited a section of the Senate’s ethics and conflict of interest code that reads: “In carrying out an inquiry, the Senate Ethics Officer has the power to send for persons, papers, and records.” The watchdog suggested that gives it the power to “compel the production of documents, including emails.”

... he might be a Senate Ethics Officer, but the manner in which he is carrying it out is unethical. Sen. Elizabeth Marshall

But that didn’t fly with Marshall. She called the lack of any formal notice about potential email access into her account “absolutely disgraceful.” “I don’t think I should have had to learn about this out in the hallways through the grapevine,” she said in the chamber Wednesday. “I think that the way the Senate Ethics Officer is carrying out his investigation — he might be a Senate Ethics Officer, but the manner in which he is carrying it out is unethical.” Pierre Legault, a lawyer and veteran civil servant, was nominated to the Senate Ethics Officer position by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in December 2017. He filled the role after the former watchdog, Lyse Ricard, resigned. Legault was appointed to a seven-year term and works on a part-time basis. HuffPost Canada asked Legault’s office to respond to Marshall’s claim that the Senate ethics watchdog is being “unethical.” The Senate Ethics Office wrote in an email that a statement had been issued and there would be “no further comments on the matter.”

Senate Ethics Office File photo of Senate Ethics Officer Pierre Legault.