A report tabled Thursday recommends the cancellation of a reprimand pronounced by the National Assembly six years ago against former CAQ MP Claude Surprenant concerning the management of public funds by his constituency office.
The ad hoc commissioner for ethics and professional conduct, Dominique Bélanger, concluded that new facts have an impact on the recommended sanction since they “shed a very different light from that which the commissioner at the time had on the question of the financial management of the constituency office, the credibility of Deputy Surprenant and a fortiori on the recommendation of a sanction.
These new facts are linked to the recognition of guilt of Julie Nadeau, former political attaché at the Groulx constituency office and witness in the 2017 investigation, to charges of fraud, use of forgery and perjury in link with facts occurring during the exercise of his functions as well as during a dispute between him and Mr. Surprenant.
In 2017, the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly criticized Claude Surprenant for using public funds to pay employees who did partisan work for him, between 2014 and 2016, while he was a deputy for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).
The report also noted that the deputy attempted to “mislead the commissioner” on questions of reimbursement of expenses and concluded that the elected official contravened the Code of Ethics for elected officials by entrusting contracts to his spouse.
More details will follow.
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