Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon took part in a pheasant hunting party on a private island in Lake Memphremagog belonging to a group of wealthy businessmen benefiting from public subsidies.
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Pierre Fitzgibbon took part in this activity during a weekend in October on the island of the Province, according to information obtained by our Investigation Office.
Don’t go chasing whoever wants in these places. Access is by invitation only. The island belongs to influential Quebec business people. Several companies related to them have received public funding since 2018.
“This is a private activity of the minister which took place over a few hours,” Mr. Fitzgibbon’s press secretary, Mathieu St-Amand, said by email.
We asked if the minister had paid for his hunting party, who had invited him, and if he had reported the activity to the Ethics Commissioner, but we did not get an answer.
By comparison, a day of pheasant hunting costs $500 per person at the Club de la Roue du Roy in Hemmingford, a much less exclusive location that is open to the public.
Hunting and fishing
“If he hasn’t paid, he has a statement to make to the Ethics Commissioner because we’re over $200,” said ethics expert Steve Jacob, professor at Laval University.
If so, the minister had 30 days to make his statement to the commissioner. The latter did not wish to comment on this specific case.
Photo Martin Alarie
Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy
Pierre Fitzgibbon didn’t want to give us an interview.
“If you would like an interview on pheasant hunting, we are ready to speak with one of your hunting and fishing columnists,” added Mr. St-Amand.
One of the individuals who control the island of the Province is Maurice Pinsonnault. One of the latter’s businesses, Angelcare, received a nearly $100,000 grant in 2020 from the Economic Development Fund (EDF), which reports to Mr Fitzgibbon.
Reached by telephone, Mr. Pinsonnault saw no problem with the presence of the minister on his island.
“If there had been a conflict, I would never have invited a guest into politics,” he said.
Ethical issues
A minister must be very careful with this kind of activity, believes Michel Séguin, professor of ethics at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
“When you have social activities with people, it can create a reciprocity bias that can be unconscious. […] I’m always going to tend to rate people I know more positively than people I don’t know, even if in my head I’m objective,” he points out.
Saidatou Dicko, governance expert and professor at UQAM, points out that Minister Fitzgibbon has been linked to several apparent conflicts of interest in recent years.
“He doesn’t seem to take it seriously, the ethical issues. Is it linked to the fact that the Legault government is not threatened? she asks herself.
big business
Pheasant hunting practiced on the island of the Province is a prestigious activity. They wear traditional hunting clothes. The jackets, scarves, trousers, boots and hats worn are from the traditional Austrian dress code, had reported The gallery in 2003.
“It’s not hunting in Canadian Tire hunting gear. It’s another matter, it’s another world, ”comments Jean Salvas, a former hunting master on the island, contacted by our Investigation Office.
He told us that the activity is also an opportunity for socialization conducive to the brewing of big business. “After 24 years, I’ve seen a lot of people pass by. […] I can tell you that I have seen a lot […] of provincial, national and international personalities,” he said.
He said that he had heard information there that ended up in the news two or three weeks later.
►Theexpression “lake gang” was popularized following an article in the magazine Business Morewhich referred to a group of businessmen with good political contacts who settled near Lake Memphremagog.
THE ISLAND OF THE PROVINCE IN BRIEF
- The island was the second home of an American businessman until the 1950s.
- From the 1960s to the 1990s, a hunting and fishing club was operated there, notably by a businessman of Czech origin, Jan Pick.
- In 1998, Province Island was sold for $1.6 million to a group of owners, including Paul Desmarais Jr.
- Paul Desmarais Jr., Guy Savard (ex-CEO of the Caisse de depot), Louis Vachon, Francesco Bellini, Jean-Louis Fontaine and Yvan Dupont are among the current shareholders of the numbered company that owns the island.
- Ronald Weinberg, co-founder and ex-CEO of Cinar, sentenced to nine years in prison in 2016, was already one of the shareholders of this company in the early 2000s.
A TRADITIONAL EUROPEAN ACTIVITY
- Pheasant hunting on Province Island is done according to European traditions dating back to the 19th century. According to Jean Salvas, this type of hunting is practiced in only a handful of places in Canada because of its prohibitive costs.
- Just under 6,500 birds are acquired from breeders in Ontario (formerly Quebec) and taken to the island each year.
- Hunting takes place during the weekends of the fall, generally from September to November.
- According to a newspaper article The gallery, the hunt opens with an air played on the horn. A musical tribute is also paid to the pheasants at the end of the day to “offer them a death worthy of the nobility of their species”.
- Young scouts have already acted as beaters so that the birds can be killed.
- According to Jean Salvas, dogs retrieve killed birds that have fallen into the water.
- Birds that are not eaten are donated to charity.
It is not only on the island of the Province that traditional pheasant hunting is practiced in Quebec.
According to Jean Salvas, pheasants are also hunted at Lawrence Stroll in the Laurentians, at Sagard in Charlevoix at the Desmarais, and at Île au Ruau near Quebec.
Gildan boss Glenn Chamandy bought Île au Ruau for $3.9 million in 2019.
In Hemmingford, the general public can hunt pheasants at the Club de la Roue du Roy. However, the activity “has nothing to do” with the hunting practiced on the island of Province, because it is less prestigious and is not accompanied by the same protocol, estimates Mr. Salvas.
Several grants since 2018
Maurice Pinsonnault is not the only shareholder on the island of the Province linked to a company that has received Quebec public funds since 2018.
Businessmen Paul Desmarais Jr., Dennis Wood and Jean-Louis Fontaine, who all have financial interests in the company that owns the island, also benefited through their businesses.
ELECTRIC LION
The electric bus company in which Power Corporation held 34.6% of the shares as of September 30, received a loan of $50 million from Quebec in 2021 and aid related to the pandemic of $18.4 million in 2020. Paul Desmarais Jr. is Chairman of Power’s Board of Directors.
LMPG
The Longueuil lighting company, in which Power Corporation is a majority shareholder, benefited from a $50 million share purchase from Investissement Québec and the Ministry of the Economy in 2021. Some $10.2 million $ were also granted under the Concerted Temporary Action Program for Businesses (PACTE).
SAGARD
The Sagard Private Equity limited partnership, linked to the Desmarais family, benefited from a purchase of $35 million in shares of Investissement Québec (in equity) in 2021. One of Sagard’s bosses, Jocelyn Lefebvre, is also director of the firm owning the island of the Province.
NADO MACHINING
The company, partly owned by Dennis Wood Investments, received $840,000 from the ESSOR program in 2020 and 2021.
A220
The former Bombardier CSeries, of which Jean-Louis Fontaine was a director until 2019, has received aid totaling more than $2 billion from the Quebec state for several years. The last dates back to 2022.