Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc is defending staying over at the home of billionaire J.D. (Jim) Irving this month, as the Conservatives call on the ethics commissioner to review the conflict-of-interest screen set up to shield Mr. LeBlanc from his government’s extensive dealings with the New Brunswick family’s company, J.D. Irving, Ltd. In Palm Beach, Fla., for a meeting on Friday at Mar-a-Lago with two of president-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, Mr.
LeBlanc was asked about a Globe and Mail report that he and his wife, Jolène Richard, had slept over at the mansion of Mr. Irving. A source told The Globe that Mr. LeBlanc and his wife had attended a mid-December Christmas party, hosted by Mr. Irving, that was held in the town of Rothesay, outside of Saint John, where many of the Irving family live. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to discuss the private affair. In Palm Beach on Friday, Mr. LeBlanc defended his relationship with Mr. Irving and said the conflict-of-interest screen, set up in 2016 after he became a cabinet minister, allows him to keep his friendship and ensure he has no government dealings with Irving company files. “It’s important, when you have jobs like we have, that you don’t lose all your friends. And the friendship of Mr. Irving is something that’s important to me on a personal level,” he said. “It’s allowed me to maintain a normal family friendship with people I’ve known for decades,” he said. Mr. LeBlanc also declined to answer twice when asked whether, since becoming a cabinet minister, he had stayed at the Irvings’ exclusive salmon-fishing spot reserved for the province’s richest family known as Down’s Gulch. His office has also refused to say whether the minister took advantage of the luxurious cedar lodge and prime salmon fishing location
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