L'impact des recommandations des commissions d'enquête sur la législation québécoise
The subject of this master's thesis are the impacts on Quebec's legislation of inquiry commissions on the lack of integrity and ethics in public administration. More specifically, the implementation by lawmakers of recommendations proposed by commissioners’ reports since Confederation is examined. Even though public inquiry commissions are mandated by the government to discover the truth in a particular case by using a quasi-judicial proceeding, their reports contain proposals to prevent new occurrences of the same problem. During the first decades of public inquiry commissions in Québec (1867‒1959), their reports contained but few legislative recommendations, (with some exceptions, e.g. Dunscomb Commission, 1869‒1870; Cannon Commission, 1909), and when such recommendations were included, parliamentarians were reluctant to integrate them in legislation (save for Dunscomb Commission). Since the 1960s, public inquiry commissions' reports have contained more complex recommendations and the successive legislatures have proven themselves more interested in implementing them. Legislators reacted to the extended media coverage of inquiry commissions (e.g. Cliche Commission, 1975; Charbonneau Commission 2015) and the tendency has been for the rapid adoption of laws inspired by their reports. In the last decades, commissions have proposed the creation of several politically independent government institutions, leading to their creation (Agence du Revenu du Québec, Autorité des marchés publics, etc.). However, throughout history, lawmakers have been more reluctant to follow recommendations respecting parliamentarians or ministers themselves.
Public inquiry commissions Quebec legislation Royal inquiry commissions