(Quebec) It is time for the Mâchurer investigation by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) against former Premier Jean Charest to end, says Liberal leader Dominique Anglade.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
The leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) reacted Thursday to the revelations of The Press that Jean Charest went to a judge to expedite the delivery of documents concerning him. This intervention by the former Prime Minister comes as he is expected to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
“After nine years, I think it’s time for the investigation to end,” said Liberal leader Dominique Anglade in a press scrum on Thursday. She added that “for anyone” faced with such a long delay, “he deserves to have a conclusion to the investigation”.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Dominique Anglade
The UPAC Mâchurer investigation has dragged on for several years.
Jean Charest filed a lawsuit against the Government of Quebec in October 2020 for violation of his privacy. He says he suffered significant harm due to the leak of confidential UPAC investigation documents on the financing of the Liberal Party of Quebec, obtained by the Quebecor group and published from April 2017.
Two days after the departure of Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, Mr. Charest asked a judge on February 4 to force the Attorney General of Quebec to hand over to him within five days the documents he has been waiting for months to support its action for damages against the Quebec state.
His eventual return to the political scene was heavily criticized this week by opposition groups in the National Assembly. On Wednesday, Liberal MP Lise Thériault reported that former Premier Jean Charest told the Quebec Liberal Party caucus that he was unhappy to be associated with allegations of corruption by other political parties.
Dominique Anglade said on Tuesday that he did not want to “interfere in a leadership race” for another party.