(Quebec) The leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Dominique Anglade, showed the door to her MP Marie Montpetit on Monday. In an interview, she also maintained that Gaétan Barrette had not yet demonstrated that he had the behavior required to be part of his team of candidates in the next elections.
The elected in Maurice-Richard is excluded from the liberal caucus following “worrying new information” obtained by the party and feeding the allegations of psychological harassment and intimidation against the deputy.
Press revealed on Monday that Mme Anglade had received a written complaint of psychological harassment against Mr.me Montpetit, in addition to having been made aware of similar allegations concerning her.
This information, which the head learned on Thursday, partly explains her sudden decision on Saturday to withdraw from Mr.me Montpetit his position as spokesperson for health. This decision is therefore not explained only by the controversy of last week, the famous tweet of the deputy for Maurice-Richard who criticized the attitude of his colleague Gaétan Barrette – the latter also lost his responsibilities in the affair. .
Harassment testimonials
Press gathered the testimonies of four people alleging that Marie Montpetit psychologically harassed them. These are political employees who worked with her in the opposition, but also when she was Minister of Culture and Communications at the end of the Couillard government’s mandate. Another source confirmed that party authorities had been made aware of reprehensible behavior and unacceptable words by the MP towards political personnel in recent months. These individuals requested anonymity for fear of reprisal or fear of damaging their careers.
According to testimonies, Mme Montpetit, for example, would have denigrated employees, would have treated them incompetent, would have shouted at them by the head and would have addressed them with a sacrament. These would be repeated acts and not isolated incidents, again according to the sources consulted.
A few hours before making the decision to exclude Mme Montpetit of the liberal caucus, Dominique Anglade told Press that she received “every hour” additional information concerning the member for Maurice-Richard and that “the situation was extremely serious”. She was already saying that expulsion was “an option on the table”.
I want the message to be clear and understood by all […] that it is zero tolerance for anything that is not healthy.
Dominique Anglade, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party
In the middle of the afternoon, at the request of the leader, the chairman of the caucus, Pierre Arcand, asked Mr.me Montpetit to withdraw from caucus. If she doesn’t, she will be kicked out. Anyway, she is now excluded from caucus. The MP declined a request for an interview.
Dominique Anglade admitted that she had previously been made aware of allegations about Mr.me Montpetit over the past few months, “unacceptable words” that the member had kept and which “required interventions”. “Each time that I have been made aware of something, each time, there have been follow-ups that have been made,” she maintained. “I acted every time. She did not detail the measures taken at the time, contenting herself with generalities. “We sit down with the people, we try to resolve the conflict, we try to find solutions. And we see how things are evolving. ”
Gaétan Barrette
In addition, Dominique Anglade maintains that the deputy for La Pinière, Gaétan Barrette, has so far not demonstrated that he had the behavior required to be a candidate in the general elections, in a little less than a year.
Within the party, she wants people who “want to collaborate” and “are able to work as a team,” she replied when asked if she wanted Mr. Barrette to be her. sides in the elections. “This is the behavior I want to see,” she insisted. “I just put sanctions this week” against Mr. Barrette, “so that sets the tone a bit.” “There would have been no sanction if the demonstration had been made” by Mr. Barrette that he had the desired behavior.
After equivocal remarks from the liberal leader at the microphone of Paul Arcand at 98.5 FM in the morning, Gaétan Barrette wrote on Twitter that he felt “obliged” to publicly indicate that Mr.me Anglade had not informed him of “any complaints / allegations of relationship problems with the staff” about him. “What he says is true and in any case, I did not want to insinuate anything”, explained the chef to Press. She doesn’t blame him for this tweet. “If he makes it clear, I don’t have a stake with that.” ”