(Lac-Beauport) The Legault government is in the process of appointing the former CAQ candidate in Sherbrooke, Caroline St-Hilaire, to the position of delegate of the Quebec office in Barcelona. A partisan appointment unacceptable in the eyes of the Liberals and the PQ, who accuse the Prime Minister of reneging on his promises.
As revealed on Wednesday the Quebec newspaperFrançois Legault is seriously considering appointing Caroline St-Hilaire to this post of delegate abroad, which tallies with information obtained by The Press over the past few weeks. According to our information, this appointment is not planned in the short term, but will indeed take place.
From a simple office, the antenna available to the Government of Quebec in the capital Barcelona will be raised to the rank of “delegation”, an important appreciation of the costs as well as the salary of the person appointed to this position.
When the announcement comes, the government will have a lot to do to explain that this decision was necessary and had been matured for a long time. Last November, after the last elections, Martine Biron’s Department of International Relations appointed a civil servant to be responsible for what has been, for more than 20 years, a simple “office” of Quebec.
Sources close to these discussions reveal that Mme St-Hilaire, who had previously been the Bloc Québécois MP for Longueuil, had initially demanded the much more prestigious appointment of Delegate General of Quebec in Paris.
Then understanding that it would not be possible, she had set her sights on another post of “delegate of Quebec” this time in Dakar, capital of Senegal. As soon as her candidacy was announced, she told those around her that she had the assurance of a parachute in the event of a defeat in Sherbrooke.
Tired of fighting, she more recently accepted Barcelona, with an upgrade at stake. The positions of the Paris and Dakar delegations are remunerated respectively at $197,000 and $175,000 per year, with a company apartment and a driver. Much less, the salary of the “head of office” in Barcelona did not appear in the list of the highest paid Quebec administrators so far.
“Was it part of the deal ? »
The former mayor of Longueuil and former member of the Bloc Québécois did not manage to snatch Sherbrooke from the hands of Québec solidaire during the last general election. “Was it part of the deal ? asks Liberal MP Monsef Derraji.
“Was it part of the deal […] that if it ever didn’t work out in Sherbrooke as an MP and then a minister, that there would be a consolation prize in being appointed somewhere by the government? adds the spokesperson for ethics issues.
PHOTO ÉRICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Monsef Derraji
Monseil Derraji accuses François Legault of reneging on his promises when he made a commitment in 2018 to end partisan appointments.
Parti Québécois MP Pascal Bérubé recalls that François Legault promised to put an end to partisan appointments when he was in opposition.
“Once elected, he had promised, in the House, that his government’s first bill would be to put an end to partisan appointments. He did not do it. The conclusion is that in this matter, the CAQ government is no different from previous Liberal governments,” said the MP for Matane-Matapédia.
The former candidate in Maurice-Richard, Audrey Murray, who was also defeated in October, was appointed deputy minister at the Ministry of Tourism in the fall. The former mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Jonathan Lapierre, who also saw his attempt to be elected MP failed, has for his part been hired as director of the cabinet of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest .
In light of these situations, “the question arises” whether Mr. Legault makes promises to his candidates in the event of defeat to attract them to the fold of the CAQ, protests Mr. Derraji.
“Mr. Legault must be very transparent. […] We can’t hide, it’s a partisan appointment. […] He must respect his promise that he delivered to Quebecers not to make any more partisan appointments,” added the MP for Nelligan.
Caroline St-Hilaire was defeated in Sherbrooke while incumbent Christine Labrie retained her seat with 41.91% of the vote. The CAQ finished second with 35.25% of the vote.