Minister France-Élaine Duranceau committed a breach of the code of ethics by “abusively favoring the personal interests of her friend” Annie Lemieux by giving her privileged access to the government, concluded Commissioner Ariane Mignolet.
Last December, France-Élaine Duranceau took part in a professional meeting with her good friend and business partner, Annie Lemieux, who acted as a lobbyist for her and the minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger. Shareholder of several real estate companies, Mme Lemieux had registered with the register of lobbyists in order to be able to intervene with Minister Duranceau.
“The evidence shows that they have a significant close relationship and that a business link exists between them at the time of the facts,” notes the Ethics Commissioner, Ariane Mignolet, in her report. investigation tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
Facts
When reading the report, we learn that the meeting was an idea of former PQ minister Michel Clair, who wishes to meet Mr.me Duranceau to “share his expertise” in the healthcare environment. Mr. Clair is also the Chairman of M’s Company Advisory Committee.me Lemieux, LSR GesDev.
Annie Lemieux then suggested to France-Élaine Duranceau, with whom she “played golf three times a year” before her election, to organize a meeting between her and Mr. Clair. The minister sees this as a good idea and asks her employees to plan the interview.
The commissioner then notes that “the minister played an active and decisive role by acting as the point of contact for interventions towards her office in the absence of a clear and defined procedure for handling the organization of meetings”.
Beginner’s mistake
During his interview with M.me Mignolet, Minister Duranceau also recognized that the meeting would not have taken place so quickly – only one month after the formation of the Council of Ministers – without her relationship with Annie Lemieux.
However, she said she did not understand the insinuations of conflicts of interest such as “there was no contract involved”. This is also what she expressed at the time of the opening of the investigation, maintaining that she had “nothing to reproach herself for”.
Now that the commissioner’s report has been made public, Mme Duranceau acknowledges her faults, but claims to have made an “honest mistake”.
“I was reckless in that, and that’s not the way to do things in politics. I organized a meeting with someone I knew as I always did in the business world,” she said when she left the question period on Thursday.
No sanction
However, no sanctions will be imposed on the Minister responsible for Housing, as she “recognized having acted recklessly and now understands her error”.
The objective of determining a sanction in parliamentary ethics is not to punish, but rather to tend to hold parliamentarians accountable and to ensure that a breach of the Code does not happen again, among other things.
Among the other mitigating circumstances, Mme Mignolet emphasizes that the error of Mme Duranceau was committed “at the very beginning of his first mandate”.
What they said
“It was an honest mistake.”
–François Legault, Premier of Quebec
“While the minister has admitted she was wrong, it is important to remind all ministers to always act with great caution. No one is above the code of ethics.”
–Monsef Derraji, member of the Liberal Party of Quebec
“It also reveals that the minister’s proximity to the real estate developer community also continued, given Bill No. 31, where we very clearly see the minister’s bias towards real estate projects.”
–Joël Arseneau, Parti Québécois MP
“The list goes on: another ethical rebuke for the CAQ. There is too much proximity between the Minister of Housing and the real estate broker community.”
–Alexandre Leduc, member of Québec solidaire