The elected representatives of the National Assembly have created the appearance of a conflict of interest due to their eagerness to grant themselves a 30% increase in their remuneration in the current mandate, said Ethics Commissioner Ariane on Tuesday. Mignolet.
Mme Mignolet was heard in a parliamentary committee by the deputies, to whom she presented recommendations to modernize the code of ethics which governs elected officials.
On this occasion, she repeated her suggestion to set up an independent committee to prevent elected officials from “getting their hands in it” when it comes to their remuneration.
Mme Mignolet also underlined that elected officials placed themselves in a situation of conflict of interest by granting themselves a 30% increase which came into force in June after the adoption of a bill which sparked the controversial.
In a press briefing that followed, she said that it would have been better if elected officials had postponed until the next mandate the entry into force of this increase, which increased their basic compensation from $101,561 to $131,766 .
“My first recommendation is that it not be the deputies. But as long as we get our hands in it, as long as we have done it, it is certain that by adopting a measure which becomes enforceable in a future legislature, it obviously removes a good part of the perception of conflict. “interests,” she said. When we talk about a next legislature, none of them are sure to return. It makes it more hypothetical so it’s less problematic. »
Commissioner Mignolet noted that the way elected officials proceed provides additional arguments in favor of her recommendation to rely on the binding decisions of an independent committee on remuneration issues.
“If it had been adopted last spring with effect in the next legislature, I would have had much fewer reservations,” she said.
In June, the bill proposed by the Coalition Avenir Québec received the support of the Liberal Party of Quebec, while Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois voted against.
More details will follow.