Armed with an ethics report concluding that he committed no breach in using his MP email to communicate with activists, PQ member Pascal Bérubé on Thursday accused the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) of having wanted to harm him politically.
Mr. Bérubé was pleased with the analysis that the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly, Ariane Mignolet, made of a complaint filed against him by the CAQ in the context of the by-election in Jean- Talon, in Quebec, last fall.
“It was an attempt by the CAQ to annoy me which fell through,” he declared in a press briefing.
Ms. Mignolet published an investigation report on Thursday in which she judges that the acts alleged against Mr. Bérubé deserve neither blame nor sanction.
“The use of state goods and services is not sufficiently significant in this case,” she wrote. In this sense, it is anecdotal, minor and superficial. »
For these reasons, the commissioner considers that Mr. Bérubé did not violate article 36 of the code of ethics which prevents in particular the use of state property for partisan activities.
“I conclude that the MP did not commit a breach,” concludes Ms. Mignolet.
The president of the Caucus caucus, Mario Laframboise, had filed a complaint relating to an email that Mr. Bérubé sent with his address from the National Assembly to PQ sympathizers in the Jean-Talon constituency, last September, at the occasion of the by-election which was held there.
Mr. Laframboise alleged the use of his MP email “for partisan purposes, since it [lui] appears blatant and significant.
Instrumental procedure
Mr. Bérubé accused the CAQ of having wanted to harm him politically with their complaint. The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, also apologized last week after having erroneously referred to the facts targeted by the investigation which targeted him.
“It’s certain that I didn’t like the episode, it was exploited,” Mr. Bérubé said on Thursday. There is a minister who decided to use that against me. »
Mr. Bérubé took advantage of the closure of the investigation to invite Ms. Mignolet to look into possible breaches of the CAQ’s code of ethics during the campaign in Jean-Talon in September. He suggested that state resources could have been used by the CAQ.
“During the by-election, I saw a large number of ministers and political staff walking the streets of Jean-Talon with their cell phones, sending emails to each other, participating fully,” he told journalists. When I spoke with the Ethics Commissioner, I suggested that she look at that too. »
Mr. Bérubé affirmed that he does not intend to file a complaint himself.
“I invite the Ethics Commissioner to look at all the resources that were deployed by staff during the by-election,” he said. It’s pretty easy to check. »
Furthermore, the report indicates that Mr. Bérubé took measures to avoid using his official email for partisan activities.
“The fact that the MP has since created a personal email address helps reduce the risk of such a situation recurring,” wrote the commissioner.