I don’t know about you, but for me, when an elected official refuses to show his credentials and be accountable, I tell myself that this person has something to hide.
• Read also: The President of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy, wants to keep her bills secret
Otherwise, why would she refuse to respond to journalists’ inquiries?
When you have nothing to reproach yourself for in the way you manage your budget, you don’t refuse to make your expenses public, right?
ONE MORE GAFF
That’s what I said to myself when I learned that Nathalie Roy, the President of the National Assembly (and ex-journalist!), refused to hand over all of her expenses to the Bureau of Investigation.
You will tell me that a media is not a court, and that a request for an interview is not a summons to appear.
TRUE.
But it seems to me that when questions of ethics occupy so much space in the news, as is the case in Quebec since the affair of the well-watered meals of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal, you have every interest to show, firstly, that this cavalier way of using public money clashes with your values and, secondly, that you are one of the elected officials who manage their budget responsibly.
Especially when your government is on the ropes and keeps making blunders.
However, this is not the path that M choseme Roy. She made public the total amount of her expenses, but not in detail.
Everyone understands that when you represent the government of Quebec and you receive five senators to eat, you do not take them to Subway.
Especially French senators!
You risk being attacked by the Foreign Legion.
But between entertaining your guests well and taking it easy at the marquise’s expense, while most people have to tighten their belts and browse the circulars to find out where butter is cheaper, there is a difference.
Between a can of Canada Dry and a dusty bottle of Château-Ma-Chère, there’s a happy medium.
We must take into account our reception capacity when we set immigration thresholds, insists – rightly – the CAQ.
Likewise, we must take into account our ability to pay when the time comes to receive the visit.
Especially when it’s not you who pays, but your neighbors who aren’t invited to the party.
CHA-CHA-CHA
What is the biggest criticism that people make of the CAQ?
For having reneged on several of his promises.
“We are going to reform the voting system.”
Not done.
“We are going to abolish partisan appointments.”
Not done.
“We are going to set up a public commission of inquiry into the awarding of contracts in the IT sector.”
Not done.
“We are going to build a third highway link between Quebec and Lévis.”
Yes. No. Maybe. Who knows?
In February 2023, the President of the National Assembly told the Bureau of Investigation that she would do like her predecessor François Paradis and provide invoices for her expenses when asked.
We just asked her, she refused.
Is that what this government is?
“CAQ often varies, but who trusts it”, to paraphrase Victor Hugo?