In reaction to an open letter about an election advertisement, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) assures that it never “intended to take advantage” of the lady who finds herself there.
After having read the open letter written by Chantal Landry, the daughter of the lady appearing in the advertisement, the caquiste training said to have been “surprised and pained”, wrote Brigitte Legault, director general of the CAQ, on Facebook. Since the publication of the text in The duty last weekend, “we indeed tried to reach the lady [de la publicité] in question,” she said.
In her open letter, Ms. Landry judged that the amount of $250 offered to her mother was “derisory”, because it is an advertisement and not a simple vox pop, “contrary to appearances”. “I understand that it is unethical to pay someone for their political opinions, but it is equally unethical to take advantage of an elderly woman with a modest income,” she lamented.
Although the lady initially refused any compensation, the “production team nevertheless insisted on paying her a symbolic amount of $250 for each video that would eventually be broadcast,” argues Ms. Legault. “She finally accepted and will have received $500 in all. »
Brigitte Legault explains that a first interview was done with the lady in question, during a vox pop in 2018. It was then used in the advertising campaign of the caquiste training. There was then “no script” and a symbolic compensation of $100 was offered to people who appeared in CAQ advertisements.
The executive director of the Coalition Avenir Québec says she called on this lady again in 2022, because of “her unusual verve, her expressiveness and her kindness”. “It was always clear that the interview would be used in advertising,” said Ms. Legault.
The CAQ training also ensures that if the lady “shows any discomfort”, she will find a solution “satisfactory for her and her family”.
Brigitte Legault also points out that “the advertisement in question was entirely paid for by the CAQ party, “without any connection with the government”.
– With Zacharie Goudreault and François Carabin