Asked about meetings he had with former business partners, the Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, says he has nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, he accuses the Montreal Journal of rehashing “old stories” and not understanding government decision-making.
The daily reported earlier on Monday that the minister had 12 official meetings with people with whom he had previously served on boards. Some meetings that took place between 2018 and 2020 preceded government interventions. These interventions, however, would have been approved by another minister, the article specifies.
The ethics experts quoted in the text are divided on these meetings. One of them believes that the Minister should have distanced himself while another believes that these meetings are an asset, because they help to understand the economic issues.
Reacting to the article of Montreal Journalthe main interested party affirms that the publication “is determined to bring things that have no connection”.
“It’s old stories, it’s nonsense, replied the minister during a press scrum. There are no reactions to that. »
” THE Montreal Journal does not understand how government decision-making works. […] People need to understand how the decision-making process works. For those who understand it, there is no problem. »
In this process, Mr. Fitzgibbon says he has nothing to be ashamed of. “All files come from Investissement Québec or the ministry. The minister never…doesn’t lead…I’ve said that many times. »
To support his point, Mr. Fitzgibbon refers to the most recent report of the Ethics Commissioner, the conclusions of which were released in February. Commissioner Ariane Mignolet concluded that the Minister had not found himself in a situation of conflict of interest in the case of government support for the lighting specialist Lumenpulse.
Mr. Fitzgibbon has been the subject of six investigations by the Ethics Commissioner. One of them is in progress and concerns participation in a pheasant hunting party, in October 2022, on a private island whose owners’ businesses would benefit from subsidies granted by the ministry of the deputy for Terrebonne.
Recall that Mr. Fitzgibbon had to withdraw from the Legault cabinet during the summer of 2021, after being targeted by the fourth report of the Ethics Commissioner, who repeatedly criticized him for his negligence in disposing of shares in two companies doing business with the government, which could place him in an unacceptable conflict of interest situation.
He returned to the firm after complying with the commissioner’s demands by divesting his interests in White Star Capital and ImmerVision.
The Minister added that he had a vast network in the business community and that it would therefore be normal for him to meet acquaintances. “Listen, I’m from Montreal. I know everyone in Montreal. »
Tensions with the Journal de Montréal
This is not the first time that the minister has publicly challenged the journalists of the newspaper belonging to Quebecor. In December, he publicly denounced a journalist’s questions about a personal donation he had made to HEC Montreal, his alma mater.
This outing had earned him criticism from the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), which had defended the approach of the journalist targeted personally. “The role of journalists is to ask questions, denounced the vice-president of the FPJQ, Éric-Pierre Champagne. Even if Mr. Fitzgibbon does not like people to look at his actions, as a minister with a background in ethics, it is quite normal for journalists to search the files and ask legitimate questions. »
During Monday’s press conference and scrum, Mr Fitzgibbon made no secret of his annoyance with the Montreal Journal, which he says he does not read. He answered the questions of the other journalists present with a smile, but he criticized a question from the journalist of the Montreal Journal and answered her other questions abruptly.
To a question from the journalist on energy and investment projects, Mr. Fitzgibbon invited him to read the text published by his competitor “La Presse”. ” She [la journaliste] wrote it well, read the third paragraph. »
At Montreal Journal, we are staying the course despite the minister’s criticisms. “Our journalists are doing their job, reacts the director of the economic section of the Montreal Journal, Yves Daoust. We will continue to do our investigations. »