Investissement Québec (IQ) and Polycor contradict each other about the communications of their leaders that preceded a $100 million transaction recently announced by the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon.
Made public on May 4, the Quebec government’s and IQ’s stake in the company raises several questions. The Lobbyists Commissioner has also started audits in this file less than a week after his announcement.
In the days following the transaction, The duty tried to find out more about the course of the exchanges between the parties involved, in particular those of Patrick Perus, the president and chief executive officer of Polycor, who does not have a mandate registered on this subject in the Register of lobbyists of Quebec (RLQ ).
IQ claims that a conversation took place on January 18 between its president and CEO, Guy LeBlanc, and Mr. Perus, in the presence of a representative of TD Securities, an agent of Polycor.
“Mr. LeBlanc had a call with Mr. Perus in mid-January, in the presence of TD Securities, which had the mandate for the transaction,” said spokeswoman for the Crown corporation, Isabelle Fontaine.
Polycor, a company active in Quebec in the extraction of granite, however, offered another version as to the participation of Mr. Perus.
“The call with Guy LeBlanc was supposed to take place on January 18, 2022, but the call was canceled,” said company spokesperson Simon Faucher.
Contacted later about this apparent contradiction, IQ maintained its version.
“The call is in Mr. LeBlanc’s diary on that date,” replied Mr.me Fountain. In any case, Investissement Québec was not subject to any influence in this file. »
It seems clear to us that these [démarches] constituted lobbying activities
For its part, the Polycor company preferred not to make additional comments.
A call to the minister
In the hours following the announcement of the government’s stake in Polycor, Mr. Fitzgibbon revealed that he had spoken, about two months earlier, with Mr. Perus, a business relationship he knows since 2015.
Polycor later argued that this exchange took place at the request of Mr. Fitzgibbon. According to the company, the minister transmitted his request through the agent TD Securities.
“This call followed an informal invitation sent by Polycor’s investment banker,” explained Mr. Faucher. The Minister wanted to ensure that the management of Polycor supported the idea of an investment by IQ. During the call, Patrick Perus informed the Minister that Polycor management would be proud of an investment from IQ. »
According to Mr. Fitzgibbon, the CEO requested the participation of the Crown corporation in order to keep Polycor’s head office in Quebec.
“Mr. Perus called me […] and said to me: is it conceivable that IQ could invest in the company. I said: absolutely. IQ took over with the ministry”, explained the minister on May 4, during a parliamentary commission in charge of studying the budgetary appropriations of IQ.
Clauses requiring the head office to remain in Quebec were imposed in return for IQ’s participation, after Mr. Perus’ request.
“The inclusion of IQ, at his will, allowed to put clauses that I call ‘maple syrup’ where we protect jobs and the head office,” explained Mr. Fitzgibbon.
A complaint
In a letter to Lobbyists Commissioner Jean-Francois Routhier, QS MP Ruba Ghazal asked him to investigate to determine why Mr. Perus was not registered with the RLQ.
“It seems clear to us that these [démarches] constituted lobbying activities that should lead to the registration of Mr. Perus in the registry of lobbyists within 60 days thereof,” she wrote on May 11, referring to the deadlines provided for in the Law on the transparency and ethics in lobbying.
Polycor was unable to provide a specific date for the telephone communication between Mr. Fitzgibbon and Mr. Perus.
“Polycor CEO Patrick Perus spoke to Minister Fitzgibbon in early February 2022,” Faucher said.
The law provides that registration with the RLQ is not necessary when a public office holder requests in writing a communication with someone in a file. It was not possible to know how Mr. Fitzgibbon worded his invitation. According to Polycor, TD Securities transmitted it by telephone to Mr. Perus.
This telephone exchange, at the end of February, was the only one between Mr. Perus and the minister, the company said.
“It should be noted that, throughout the negotiation process, discussions always took place directly between Birch Hill and the IQ teams. IQ contacted Polycor in October 2021 to express its interest,” said Simon Faucher.
The Lobbyists Commissioner has confirmed to the To have to that verifications had been initiated prior to Ms.me Ghazal, made public by The Journal of Montreal.
“Considering that we received a request for an investigation and that it was made public by Mr.me Ghazal, we can confirm that we had already started verification procedures in this file, ”said the spokesperson for the commissioner, Marie-Noëlle St-Pierre.
A donation from TD
Information appearing on the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie (GDPL) website also indicates that TD Securities and its general manager in Quebec, Abe Adham, made a donation totaling $750 to a team that included Mr. Fitzgibbon and Mr. LeBlanc, in 2014. “The team is no longer active and will not participate in the 2022 edition,” said GDPL spokeswoman Catherine Desforges.
In parliamentary committee, at the beginning of May, Mr. Fitzgibbon and Mr. LeBlanc indicated that Mr. Adham had been involved in the transaction.
Mr. Fitzgibbon’s office preferred not to elaborate on its relationship with Mr. Adham and the donations received.
“The Minister has priorities other than returning to this subject which is closed”, replied his spokesperson, Mathieu St-Amand, by email, deploring “the tendentious articles of the last few weeks which are harmful to businesses”.
Birch Hill and TD Securities did not respond to requests from the To have to regarding their involvement in this transaction.