André Marin

On April 1, 2005 Marin was appointed as Ombudsman of Ontario by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[2][3] On June 1, 2010, he was reappointed to a second five-year term ending on May 31, 2015.

In January 2011, the Ontario Press Council dismissed a complaint launched by Marin in relation to the content of a Toronto Star article which relayed information provided by former employees about his office's management practices.[6] Council accepted a complaint by Marin about references in the articles to his retention of then Ottawa lawyer David Paciocco, who was, in 2017, appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, but the complaint was ruled on and ultimately dismissed.[6]

In March 2007, Marin's office released a report on the province's conduct in regards to the Ontario lottery retailer fraud scandal.[7][8]

In December 2010, Marin's office released a report on the province's conduct in regards to the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit.[9] Marin said that it was "illegal" for the government to pass secret regulations allowing for the detaining of protesters during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests.[9]

In October 2013, he released a report criticizing London, Ontario mayor Joe Fontana and city councillors for a secret meeting at a restaurant where they discussed city business.[10] The councillors and mayor denied the report.[10]

In November 2014, Marin released a report that was critical of the Liberal government, calling it 'systematic government ineptitude" that led to the deaths of four children in unlicensed home daycares.[11][12] The investigation was prompted after a 2-year-old child died in an unlicensed daycare in Vaughan.[11] Marin issued an "unprecedented" 113 recommendations, and called on the province to take urgent action.[11][12]

On May 28, 2015 the Ontario Legislature voted to extend Marin's term as ombudsman until September 14, 2015 to allow him to wrap-up investigations. Over 60 people applied to become Ontario's next ombudsman, including Marin.[13]

In early May 2015, with his term soon coming to an end and no decision made whether to rehire him for an unprecedented third term, Marin used the Ontario Ombudsman Twitter account to call for supporters to urge for his rehiring and to retweet attacks aimed at the Liberal government.[14] Andrea Horwath, leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, defended Marin's Twitter use, saying he had good reason to cause a fuss in support of his attempts to be rehired.[15][16]

In July 2015, Marin acknowledged his tweets from May were a mistake and said he had learned from the experience, but defended his right to be vocal about criticizing the government.[17]

On September 14, 2015, a motion to grant Marin a second extension was defeated in the Legislature, bringing his tenure to an end.[18] Since leaving office he has taught law at the University of Ottawa.[19]

On April 15, 2016, media reported Marin filed a lawsuit against the Ontario government and the office of the Ontario Ombudsman for wrongful dismissal, claiming $3.5 million in damages.[20][21] Marin argued that he had been fired without cause or notice when he was not rehired for a third term, and that he should have been given two years notice.[22] Justice Peter Cavanagh of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled against Marin and awarded costs to the province.[23]

After leaving office Marin began teaching part-time in the University of Ottawa's faculty of law and writing a column for the Ottawa Sun and Toronto Sun.[24] On December 14, 2019, he announced that he was writing his last column.[25] In 2020, Marin was hired by People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier to represent him in a lawsuit filed against political strategist Warren Kinsella alleging Kinsella was hired by the Conservative Party of Canada to "astroturf" Bernier through a pre-election campaign of defamation.[26]