(Quebec) An investigation clears CAQ MP Louis-Charles Thouin of the solicitation messages to municipal elected officials in his constituency.
The Ethics and Professional Conduct Commissioner of the National Assembly, Ariane Mignolet, concludes that the member for Rousseau did not commit a breach of the code of ethics for elected officials.
But it also suggests that it will put forward by 2025 “certain considerations and certain ethical and deontological issues in relation to political financing” as well as “guidelines”.
She called on MPs to “exercise great caution when soliciting financial contributions from people with whom they interact”.
Let us recall that last January, The Canadian Press revealed that Mr. Thouin was sending invitations to a Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) fundraising cocktail to mayors so that they could come and discuss their files with a distinguished guest, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault.
The opposition had accused the CAQ of filling its coffers by monetizing privileged access to its ministers.
The Code of Ethics provides that a Member of Parliament “may not place himself in a situation where his personal interest may influence his independence of judgment in the exercise of his duties”, or “may not act, attempt to act or omit to act in a way that promotes his personal interests”.
However, “the evidence collected demonstrates that the MP’s desire to raise financial contributions for the next election campaign does not constitute a personal interest,” wrote the commissioner.
It also states that the MP was not exercising his duties at the time of sending his invitation, even though he used a communication channel “used essentially for professional purposes”.
Municipal elected officials expressed their “discomfort” with the way the MP chose to invite them, others “perceive” that their “present or past affiliation with a party” could affect their access to a minister, the commissioner gathered in her investigation.
She also criticises Mr Thouin for trying to find out which elected official had relayed the message to the media, while the MP “cannot communicate at any time with the witnesses to discuss the subject of the investigation”.
Mr. Mignolet notes that during the four years preceding the general election, each CAQ MP aims to raise an average of between $35,000 and $40,000 in financial contributions.
Mme Mignolet notes “a certain mixture of genres” between the functions exercised by the deputy and the partisan activities in which he may be called upon to participate, but she considers that Mr. Thouin “did not cross the line which separates partisan activities and activities linked to the exercise of his office.”
Earlier this year, the CAQ was plunged into turmoil due to controversies over its fundraising methods, so much so that leader François Legault finally announced that his party was giving up on popular financing.
Messages obtained by The Canadian Press revealed that CAQ members were inviting municipal officials to fundraising cocktails, suggesting that this would be an opportunity to advance issues.
The CAQ deputies for René-Lévesque, Yves Montigny, and Orford, Gilles Bélanger, had also been denounced.
Mr. Montigny had invited an entrepreneur from his region to meet a minister at a cocktail party in exchange for a $100 contribution to the party coffers. Mr. Bélanger had invited mayors to meet with Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault in exchange for a $100 contribution.
Québec solidaire had asked the commissioner to investigate, but she had ruled that there were “no reasonable grounds, based among other things on the commissioner’s jurisprudence, to believe that a breach of the Code could have been committed.”
The CAQ member for Chauveau and vice-president of the National Assembly, Sylvain Lévesque, was also tarnished.
A citizen who wanted to forward a file to Finance Minister Eric Girard was invited by an employee of Mr. Lévesque’s constituency office to pay $100 to the party to meet the minister at a cocktail party. The commissioner has opened an investigation.
The law allows any citizen to contribute up to $100 per year to a party’s coffers, but the contribution must be made “without compensation or consideration” to “avoid a party or candidate finding themselves in a situation where they would feel indebted to the contribution made by a donor and to ensure that each donor acts voluntarily to make their contribution, on their own initiative and from their own funds, without being subject to pressure or promises from a third party,” stipulates Élections Québec.
The Canadian Press also learned that nearly half of the mayors, or 503 out of 1,138, have contributed to financing the CAQ since the 2021 municipal elections, for a total of nearly $100,000.
Le Soleil had also revealed that Mme Guilbault and his colleague at the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, were by far the most popular ministers invited to CAQ fundraising cocktails. Incidentally, these are two ministries that award a lot of subsidies, the Parti Québécois (PQ) had pointed out at the time.
QS accused the CAQ of having set up a financing “scheme”, while the PQ spoke of a “systemic” financing method.