Léo Landreville (February 23, 1910 – 1996) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician and lawyer, who served as mayor of
Sudbury,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in 1955 and 1956
[Dorian, Charles (1961). ''The First 75 Years, A Headline History of Sudbury, Canada''. Arthur H. Stockwell Limited, Ilfracombe, Devon] before being appointed to the
Supreme Court of Ontario
The Supreme Court of Ontario was a superior court of the Canadian province of Ontario. Created in 1881 pursuant to the Ontario Judicature Act (1881), the Supreme Court of Ontario had two branches: the High Court of Justice Division and the Appell ...
as a judge. He later became the first Ontario Supreme Court justice ever to be removed from the bench, after being implicated in the
Northern Ontario Natural Gas
Northern Ontario Natural Gas was a natural gas company in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s, which was involved in a stock trading scandal that implicated Supreme Court of Ontario judge Leo Landreville, three Central Ontario mayors, and three members ...
scandal.
[Tom Alderman, "A disgraced judge fights to clear his name". '']Ottawa Citizen
The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
History
Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...
'', November 16, 1968.
Landreville, a native of
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, practised law in Sudbury in the 1940s and 1950s before becoming the city's mayor. During his mayoral term, he was offered an option on 10,000
shares
In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
of stock in Northern Ontario Natural Gas, a company run by Ralph K. Farris that was seeking a municipal agreement on the construction of a
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
pipeline through
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...
. When the NONG contract was approved by city council, Farris purchased the shares at the original price offered to Landreville, sold 2,500 shares to reimburse the company, and delivered the 7,500 remaining shares to Landreville at no cost.
[''Bad Judgment: The Case of Justice Leo A. Landreville'', William Kaplan, 1996.]
Following his appointment to the Supreme Court, Landreville sold the shares for a profit of $117,000.
[
After an ]Ontario Securities Commission
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is a regulatory agency which administers and enforces securities legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario. The OSC is an Ontario Crown agency which reports to the Ontario legislature through the Minis ...
investigation into NONG's stock distributions, it was ultimately revealed that many of Northern Ontario's mayors, as well as some members of Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Leslie Frost
Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...
's cabinet, had received low-cost shares.
After a second investigation, Landreville was charged with municipal corruption and conspiracy, and was acquitted as there was no evidence that he had exerted any influence on Sudbury's city council to approve the NONG contract. In response, however, the Law Society of Upper Canada
The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...
held a secret hearing in which it determined that despite the acquittal, Landreville's conduct had fallen below the "standards of probity" demanded of a judge, and called for his resignation.
In 1966, Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lester Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
appointed a Royal Commission, chaired by Ivan Rand
Ivan Cleveland Rand (April 27, 1884 – January 2, 1969) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, academic, and justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He has been described as 'probably the greatest judge in Canada's history'.
Early life and ca ...
, to investigate the case. Controversially, the Law Society report was admitted into the proceedings, but the original judgement acquitting Landreville of misconduct was not. Landreville was also never given an opportunity, as required under law, to respond to the royal commission's report.[
Landreville initially refused to resign from the bench, leading Pearson's government to announce, on June 6, 1967, an unusual joint address of the ]House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
and the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
to have him removed from the bench.[ He was then convinced to resign voluntarily with the promise of a partial ]pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
.[
]Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada
The prime mini ...
, then Justice Minister
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, later wrote to advise Landreville that the federal cabinet had decided not to offer Landreville the pension, although subsequent Access to Information
Access may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network
* Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom
* Access Co., a Japanese software company
* Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...
requests revealed that the cabinet had made no such decision. Landreville waged a ten-year legal battle to have the pension offer honoured, and was finally offered $250,000.
Landreville subsequently returned to practising law.
References
External links
"Falling Off the Bench"
''Books in Canada
''Books in Canada'' was a monthly magazine that reviewed Canadian literature, published in print form between 1971 and 2008. In its heyday it was the most influential literary magazine in Canada.
Foundation
One of the co-founders of ''Books in Ca ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landreville, Leo
1910 births
1996 deaths
Mayors of Sudbury, Ontario
Judges in Ontario
Lawyers in Ontario
Franco-Ontarian people
Politicians from Ottawa