(Quebec) The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) intends to reimburse a bereaved couple for the $200 they paid to meet the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, during a fundraising cocktail.
“As a party and as an institution, we are uncomfortable receiving this money,” said the party’s general director, Brigitte Legault, in an interview. She wrote Friday morning to Elizabeth Rivera and Antoine Bittar, a couple who lost their daughter in a road accident and who head the Montreal branch of the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Montreal).
“We wrote them an email to apologize for the situation and offered them a refund. We are waiting for a response from them,” said M.me Legaut.
According to her, “this situation should not have happened. We should have offered them a meeting with the minister without paying.”
Thursday, in a parliamentary committee, Elizabeth Rivera and Antoine Bittar recounted that a political employee of MP Marilyne Picard invited them last fall to donate $200 to participate in a CAQ cocktail in the presence of Geneviève Guilbault in order to advance their cause. “We had our two minutes [avec la ministre] and honestly, when I left the place, I was really disappointed. I found it unacceptable that we were asked to pay $200 to meet the minister,” said M.me Rivera.
Selon Brigitte Legault, « il n’y a pas de système » à la CAQ visant à solliciter des personnes qui tentent de faire avancer des dossiers auprès des députés. L’employée politique qui a fait l’invitation n’avait pas de « mauvaise intention ». Ce qui s’est produit avec le couple endeuillé, « c’est un acte isolé », a-t-elle plaidé.
La directrice générale a rappelé que la CAQ a pris une mesure « radicale » la semaine dernière en renonçant au financement populaire.
Le Directeur général des élections du Québec confirmait lundi qu’« il n’est désormais plus possible de faire un don à la CAQ à partir du site web d’Élections Québec ». « La mesure est donc en place, à la demande du parti », disait sa porte-parole Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet.
L’opposition veut aller plus loin
L’opposition demandait à ce que la CAQ rembourse le couple. Vendredi, le péquiste Joël Arseneau a également réclamé que Geneviève Guilbault fasse « amende honorable » en offrant ses excuses à Elizabeth Rivera et Antoine Bittar.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Le député péquiste des Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau
« La ministre Guilbault a multiplié les cocktails de financement et aujourd’hui, je pense qu’elle fait partie d’un système […] which is taking shape. […] We are asking him to show more, I would say, humility in this case,” lamented Mr. Arseneau.
According to the Parti Québécois, the heart of the matter lies elsewhere: “In the specific case […] Whether she knows who she’s talking to or not, that’s not really the important thing. […] This is where the order came from for these fundraising cocktails to be attended by some of the most influential ministers,” adds Mr. Arseneau. The Parti Québécois would prohibit ministers from participating in fundraising cocktails.
“The problem doesn’t stop with paying back. There are political responsibilities here,” argued for his part the solidarity deputy, Andrés Fontecilla.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Andrés Fontecilla, MP for Laurier-Dorion
I know that the solution will be to designate a scapegoat, the fourth undersecretary of the fifth deputy… No, the problem is not there, the problem […] This is the semblance of a directive that there was, and this is what we must investigate.
Andrés Fontecilla, solidarity MP for Laurier-Dorion
Québec solidaire promises to use “all means at [sa] provision” to get “to the bottom of this matter”. The group plans to file a complaint again with the Ethics Commissioner and even request a parliamentary commission.
For her part, Liberal MP Virginie Dufour recalled that “it is not the presence of ministers at events that is the problem, it is rather wanting to monetize access to the minister that is the issue.”