(Quebec) Élections Québec will investigate two donations of $100 made by a bereaved couple who wanted to meet the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, during a fundraising cocktail.
“Public information leads us to believe that the two contributions would have been made in exchange for a consideration, thus making these contributions non-compliant,” indicated in writing the spokesperson for Élections Québec, Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet, in an email to The Canadian Press on Monday.
Two weeks ago, the controversy affecting the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) had regained momentum as Antoine Bittar and Élizabeth Rivera told a parliamentary committee that they had to make a donation of $100 each to the party to meet Mme Guilbault.
The couple has been on a crusade to lower the blood alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05 (50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood) since the loss of their daughter in 2017, killed by a drunk driver.
The couple has since been reimbursed by the CAQ. “We will consider the Coalition Avenir Québec’s approach as compensation to the two citizens, and not as a reimbursement of their contributions. It will then be a party expense and this expense must appear in the party’s annual financial report,” indicated Mr.me St-Arnaud-Drolet.
The Election Act provides that any citizen can contribute up to $100 per year to a political party, but without compensation.
“We are not involved in this, they are the ones who take care of it directly. (Élections Québec) have every right to investigate and carry out additional verifications on all donations. […] We will not be contacted, unless we need to be a witness,” indicated the general director of the CAQ, Brigitte Legault, to The Canadian Press.
The CAQ has been in turmoil for several weeks due to controversies over its fundraising methods.
The Canadian Press revealed messages from CAQ MPs who invited municipal elected officials to party fundraising cocktails, suggesting that this would be an opportunity to advance issues.
Two CAQ elected officials, Sylvain Lévesque and Louis-Charles Thouin, are the target of an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly.