Former Premier Jean Charest, who will pocket nearly $400,000 after winning his case against the state and UPAC, denounces the “irreparable damage” suffered by his family and regrets that his requests for an apology are remained a dead letter.
• Read also – UPAC leaks “did not help” the PLQ in the last elections, believes Tanguay
• Read also – Investigation into the financing of the Liberal Party: Jean Charest obtains $385,000 in compensation
“For the price of a sheet of paper, an envelope and a stamp, I would have accepted that this matter, although serious, be settled”, reacted the former Liberal leader, the day after a decision rendered in his favor by the Superior Court.
In its judgment, the Court awards Mr. Charest a total of $385,000 in punitive and compensatory damages for the leaks he was the subject of during an investigation by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC). on the financing of the PLQ.
“Originally, I asked for an apology from the Quebec government on the grounds that it had failed in its legal obligations and its duties to protect the privacy of its citizens,” recalls Jean Charest, in a statement posted on Twitter.
“This request for an apology has never been acknowledged,” continues the former prime minister. This is why I was forced to resort to the courts to assert my rights. For my family and me, the damage caused by this case is irreparable.”
“After more than five years of investigations”, Jean Charest adds that he is still waiting for the Bureau of Independent Investigations (which is looking into the leaks) and the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions “to follow up on the criminal acts of the UPAC”.
Legault does not rule out excuses
Pressed with questions by the parliamentary press, Prime Minister François Legault did not rule out the possibility of offering an apology to his former Liberal rival.
The CAQ leader, however, recalled that the former commissioner Robert Lafrenière, who was in charge of the UPAC at the time of the leaks, had been appointed by a government led by the Liberal Party of Quebec.
“Do I have to apologize on behalf of the Liberal government that appointed Mr. Lafrenière? I do not exclude that, but we will analyze it properly, ”said Mr. Legault.
“When we were in opposition, we said: “the boss of UPAC should be appointed by a two-thirds vote”. The Liberals disagreed with that. We, when we arrived, we changed the law and we appointed Frédéric Gaudreault with a two-thirds vote, so we corrected the error of the Liberals.
Should UPAC apologize? “Perhaps, yes,” dropped Mr. Legault, before continuing on his way to the Blue Room.
The tainted liberal mark
For the interim Liberal leader, Marc Tanguay, the government has a duty to “recognize the fault which was itself recognized by the judgment and (to) apologize to Mr. Charest”.
Mr. Tanguay criticizes the Legault government in particular for having let Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault brandish in the room a copy of the book PLQ inc., a work by Éditions du Journal which examines the setbacks of UPAC, its investigation into allegations of illegal political financing.
According to Mr. Tanguay, it seems obvious that the leaks from UPAC, which plunged Jean Charest into “anguish and humiliation”, also harmed the Liberal Party of Quebec during the last elections.
Photo archives, Stevens Leblanc
The interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Marc Tanguay
“The result of the last election, I won’t tell you it’s because of the 54 leaks from UPAC, but it didn’t help. […] These leaks will have harmed the Liberal brand, that’s clear,” said Mr. Tanguay.
“The Court recognized that Mr. Charest faced humiliation and anguish (…). No citizen should have to face such abuses,” Mr. Tanguay lamented.
Tanguay is angry with the “bandits”
Mr. Tanguay took the opportunity to echo the words of ex-commissioner Lafrenière, who expressed in 2017 that he wanted to catch the “bandit” behind the leaks.
“Those who have committed such leaks are always potentially subject to criminal charges,” said Mr. Tanguay, recalling that it is an obstruction of justice. “I hope there will be criminal charges against the bandits who did this.”
Mr. Tanguay is of the opinion that UPAC now has “serious questions to ask”. Nevertheless, he asserts that he still has confidence in this institution and he recognizes that there was no leak under the leadership of the current commissioner.
Cautious, PQ MP Pascal Bérubé pleaded for the UPAC to be reintegrated into the Sûreté du Québec.
Total mess
The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, considers that it was not the leaks from the UPAC investigation that tarnished the reputation of the PLQ, but rather “the political mores of the party” and ” the multiple corruption scandals” raised during the work of the Charbonneau Commission.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois is of the opinion that the government does not have to apologize to Jean Charest. “If an apology must be made, it is to the entire population of Quebec for not having delivered the goods in the fight against corruption,” he said of UPAC.
Photo archives, QMI Agency
The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
When a journalist asked him if Jean Charest “deserves” the sums that will be paid to him, the supportive spokesperson was content to blow: “The judgment has been rendered, we are in a state of law”.
“Who is not upset this morning?”, He continued, recalling that the creation of UPAC was to bring the money of corruption back into the coffers of the State.
“A few years later, very few people have been caught, and we have to pay public money to Jean Charest. How not to see a total mess there? he wondered.