(Quebec) The National Assembly asks Elections Quebec to make public the secret documents on the illegal financing of the No camp in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
A motion from the Parti Québécois (PQ) was adopted Thursday unanimously by all parties, with no abstentions.
The motion asks the Chief Electoral Officer to “disclose the documents of the Grenier commission as soon as possible”.
During this commission, no fewer than 90 witnesses were heard behind closed doors and 4,500 documents were filed as evidence. But everything is subject to an “order relating to the non-disclosure, non-communication and non-dissemination of evidence”, without time limits, issued by Commissioner Bernard Grenier when the report was tabled in 2007.
The motion will be forwarded to Elections Quebec, which will decide on the disclosure of the documents.
“It’s a moment that has historic potential, we are proud that it was done unanimously by all the deputies,” commented PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon after the vote.
“So much the better if the truth and the search for justice are shared values in Quebec society. »
Remember that the referendum on sovereignty ended with a tight result of 50.58% for the federalist No camp, against 49.42% for the sovereignist Yes camp.
The separatists accused the No camp and the federal government of having circumvented the Quebec law on popular consultations, in particular concerning the funding ceiling for each of the committees.
“Now is the time to open the boxes,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
Elections Quebec did not respond to our interview requests. However, in an email, the spokesperson for Elections Quebec, Julie St-Arnaud Drolet, indicated that the organization is weighing its legal leeway.
“I can tell you that we take note of the motion adopted today in the National Assembly and that we understand the value of transparency that drives this process. We are currently evaluating the applicable legal framework. »
Bernard Grenier had justified his order by saying that he was “sensitive to the warning expressed by some about the risk of damaging after 11 or 12 years the reputation of people who have worked for the cause of NO in all good faith “.
He also said that he did not see how he could make the documents accessible at the time: “The damage and injustice that we would have liked to avoid by proceeding behind closed doors would thus be caused. »
The conclusions of the report
Commissioner Grenier concluded that the “controversial funds” came from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
He had also concluded that the Council for Canadian Unity (CUC) and Option Canada had spent more than $11 million between 1994 and 1996 to promote the No, therefore in a period which extends well before and after the regulated period for expenses, namely the 1995 referendum campaign.
The expenditures are “not tainted with irregularities in relation to the requirements of the law”, we read. During the referendum campaign, the No camp had respected the ceiling of nearly 5.1 million.
However, he could not determine who had funded the huge last chance rally for Canada in Montreal at the end of the campaign, called the “love in” of October 27, 1995.
“The evidence presented before me did not make it possible to determine the source of the financing of the rally of October 27 in downtown Montreal, he writes. I am unable to conclude that the subsidies paid to the CUC or to Option Canada were used to defray all or part of the costs of this rally. »