(Quebec) The Parti Québécois is calling for an investigation by the Chief Electoral Officer (DGEQ) into a “hidden reimbursement scheme” on the financing of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).
We learned in the Quebecor media on Wednesday that the municipality of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! had illegally reimbursed two donations made to the CAQ by its mayor and its general director to discuss with Minister Andrée Laforest during a fundraising evening.
This follows a series of revelations about CAQ fundraising in January and February which led François Legault to renounce public funding for his party.
“It is certain that if it was done like that, it is necessary (that the mayor and the general director reimburse) the municipality,” admitted Minister Laforest. According to her, there was no ambiguity that it was written that it was a fundraising cocktail for her party on the invitation. She added that elected officials have followed ethics training and an ethics guide.
In a letter sent to the director general of elections, Jean-François Blanchet, the president of the PQ, Catherine Gentilcore, recalls that according to the law, “any contribution must be paid by the voter himself from his own property and cannot be subject to reimbursement.
Mme Gentilcore asks the DGEQ to carry out “an audit on the conformity of the contributions made (to the CAQ) by mayors, councilors and senior municipal officials”.
“Hidden reimbursement”
What’s more, the PQ leader suspects a “hidden reimbursement scheme”.
The general director of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in fact maintains in the article that if it had wanted to hide the contribution, it would have done like other municipalities and would have included it in the travel costs.
“The mere mention of the existence of such a practice is in itself very serious and in our opinion deserves your attention,” writes Mme Gentilcore to Mr. Blanchet.
“If such a stratagem is actually used, this means that many contributions may have been made in contradiction with political party financing rules,” she fears.
The DGEQ is already investigating the payment by a bereaved couple of donations of $200 to the CAQ to be able to meet the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, in her crusade against drunk driving.
Remember that since January 23, the CAQ has been splashed by controversies over its fundraising methods.
The Canadian Press revealed that 503 out of 1,138 mayors and prefects in Quebec had contributed to the CAQ’s electoral fund since the last municipal elections in 2021, for a total of nearly $100,000.
The opposition accuses CAQ deputies of having dangled access to ministers in exchange for a $100 donation to the party during fundraising activities.
The sun 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: 16 participations in 16 months. Incidentally, these are two ministries which award a lot of subsidies, the PQ then underlined.
In January, The Canadian Press revealed messages from CAQ MP Louis-Charles Thouin who invited municipal elected officials from his constituency to meet Minister Guilbault in exchange for a contribution to the CAQ fund.
In another message obtained by La Presse Canadienne, MP Gilles Bélanger also invited mayors to meet Mme Guilbault, in exchange for a contribution of $100.
According to a screenshot obtained by Québec solidaire, MP Yves Montigny invited an entrepreneur from his region to meet a minister at a cocktail in exchange for a $100 contribution to the party fund.
The Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly, Ariane Mignolet, is investigating Mr. Thouin’s case, but has refused the opposition’s requests for an investigation into MM. Montigny and Bélanger.
She is also investigating the case of the CAQ member for Chauveau, Sylvain Lévesque, specifically on the use by a member of the staff of the constituency office, in the exercise of his duties, of the computer equipment and the official email address provided by the National Assembly to promote the partisan fundraising activities of the Coalition Avenir Québec.
We cannot pretend to have a privilege by luring municipal elected officials with a minister into a fundraising cocktail — the law prohibits contributing to a party with the intention of obtaining a counterpart.
Minister Bernard Drainville acknowledged that municipal elected officials discussed their issues with him during fundraising activities, while the general director of the CAQ, Brigitte Legault, rather affirmed that the exchanges between the minister and the mayors were of the order brief conversation, “sprinkling”.
The law allows any citizen to contribute up to $100 per year to a party’s fund, but the contribution must be made “without compensation or consideration”, to “prevent a party or candidate from being found in a situation where he would feel indebted to the contribution made by a donor and ensure that each donor acts voluntarily to pay his contribution, on his own initiative and from his own funds, without being pressured or promised to a third person,” stipulates Élections Québec.
On February 8, Mr. Legault subsequently announced that his party was going to renounce popular financing, that is to say contributions from individuals: the CAQ is thus giving up on approximately 1 million collected in donations per year.