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OTTAWA –The federal government has nominated a new conflict of interest and ethics commissioner.

Mario Dion, the current chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, is set to replace current ethics watchdog Mary Dawson.

Government House Leader Bardish Chagger made the announcement in the House of Commons Monday.

Dawson’s term is set to end Jan. 8, 2018.

Dion is a retired lawyer from Montreal, and has chaired the Immigration Refugee Board since 2015. Prior to that, he was the public sector integrity commissioner. The position comes with a seven-year term.

Dawson has held the role for over a decade. Dawson was first appointed in July 2007. Her appointment was renewed in 2014, and extended under the current government during the hunt for her replacement.

Fate of ongoing investigations questioned

Dawson’s office is currently investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for potentially breaching conflict of interest rules over a Christmas 2016 trip to the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas.

Because of Dawson’s investigation into him, Trudeau and some of his top aides have recused themselves from the selection process. Trudeau tapped Chagger to lead the nomination process.

Dawson is also probing Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s possible conflict of interest over his sponsorship of pension bill, C-27.

If Dawson does not complete her reports on these matters before her departure, it will be up to Dion to determine whether he will continue to pursue, drop, or reevaluate the investigations.

During question period Monday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer questioned Trudeau about whether he would commit to making sure the investigations continue under Dawson’s replacement, and whether MPs would be able to question the nominee.

Trudeau did not directly answer either of these questions, rather he cited the independent appointment process Chagger led.

'This whole thing is a travesty': Cullen

NDP ethics critic Nathan Cullen is raising concerns about the process in which Dion's name rose to the top, and is casting doubt on the feasibility of reviewing and confirming the Liberals’ pick before Parliament rises for a month.

This is the last scheduled sitting week of the House of Commons, before MPs break for the holidays. They aren’t scheduled to return to Ottawa until the end of January, after Dawson’s term expires.

Cullen said the House Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee was holding an "emergency" meeting Monday afternoon where it’s expected members will try to find a date to call Dion to testify.

"The government has either intentionally, or just by incompetence, mishandled the assignment of a new ethics commissioner. I’m not sure that there’s time remaining in the calendar," Cullen said.

He was also critical of the nomination process, saying the Liberals' "consultation" with the opposition amounted to one name on a piece of paper being handed to them.

"This whole thing is a travesty," said Cullen.

But Chagger defended the process, highlighting that Dion has held public service posts under six governments, over three decades.

"Throughout his career he has definitely shown tremendous quality when it comes to doing the difficult work and tasks that would be required of him as the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner," Chagger said.

Dion's office subject of past AG probes

Dion's career has not been without controversy. Whistleblower groups called for him to be removed from his job as integrity commissioner back in 2014.

At the time, Auditor General Michael Ferguson issuedon the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, which Dion helmed.

The integrity commissioner’s job is to protect federal whistleblowers, and staff "grossly mismanaged" two whistleblowers' cases.

In the reports Ferguson notes that his findings were not meant to be a comment on the overall management of the office, and that Dion inherited the job at a time when the office was going through an "enormous transition." His predecessor left amid scrutiny.

In order to be confirmed as Canada’s new ethics czar, Dion’s appointment has to be voted on by the House of Commons.