(Quebec) The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, will be the subject of a sixth investigation in four years by the Commissioner of Ethics and Professional Conduct, it was announced Thursday. In the line of sight: his participation in a pheasant hunting party on a private island in the Eastern Townships which belongs to business people.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Fitzgibbon had welcomed demands from opposition parties for such an investigation. “It’s a private activity, so it will continue,” he said.
The Journal of Montreal reported that government superminister Legault, who holds the portfolios of Economy, Innovation and Energy, took part in a hunting party this fall on Île de la Province, located on Lake Memphremagog , which is owned by people related to companies that receive government subsidies.
In a press scrum in parliament, Mr. Fitzgibbon assured that he had not committed any ethical blunder by agreeing to participate in this activity, as he has done every year for nearly 20 years.
” I think that The Journal of Montreal should ask, through the members of the Parti Québécois, for a commission of inquiry. I think the Ethics Commissioner should investigate. Me, I’m going to be very comfortable, because I’ve never had any wrongdoing in my behavior and there never will be,” Mr. Fitzgibbon said.
In the morning, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) confirmed that it had sent a letter to the ethics and professional conduct commissioner, Ariane Mignolet, to open an investigation. Québec solidaire (QS) also said it intended to make such a request, as did the Parti Québécois (PQ).
“It’s my private life”
Pierre Fitzgibbon defended himself Thursday by saying that this hunting party was an activity related to his private life. He intends to continue this tradition in the coming years. Mr Fitzgibbon also confirmed that he did not consult the Ethics Commissioner before continuing to hunt pheasants on this private island once sworn in as minister. The Prime Minister’s Office was also not informed.
When The Journal of Montreal asked the CAQ minister for details, before the article was published, his press attaché, Mathieu St-Amant, replied: “If you would like an interview on pheasant hunting, we are ready to speak with one of your hunting and fishing columnists. »
Mr Fitzgibbon said on Thursday that this response was not a show of arrogance. “It’s not arrogance, [c’est] my private life and that concerns me. It’s not because of the Montreal Journal that I will deprive myself of seeing good acquaintances,” he said.
During this hunting party, where the guests would wear a costume inspired by the traditional Austrian dress code, Mr. Fitzgibbon talked business with his gathered acquaintances.
“Sure, there are always some, my life is in there. I’ve been with this world for 20 years. They’re good acquaintances, so I think it’s important for the Ethics Commissioner to investigate so that you’re all comfortable, and The Journal of Montrealthat there were no grants” awarded that day, he said.
“We are not from the same world”
This news concerning the hunting party of the Minister of the Economy with business people on a private island caused a strong reaction from the opposition parties on Thursday. “We are not from the same world,” said Pascal Bérubé, of the Parti Québécois.
“These millionaires, these big business owners, it’s hard afterwards to lecture and ask people for sobriety when it’s so ostentatious,” he added. “I ask him for ethical sobriety,” added PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
Vincent Marissal, from Québec solidaire, recognized in this story “our good old Fitzgibbon […] which, again, has pretty slack ethics”.
“Mr. Fitzgibbon, he has not understood that he is no longer in business, that he is a servant of the State and that he must be careful with his gestures and the appearance of his gestures “, he denounced.
« On retrouve la même désinvolture du ministre qu’on connaît depuis ces dernières années. […] This is problematic, because when we talk about situations where an elected official places himself in [apparence de conflit d’intérêts]this is a context where questions must be asked,” said the interim leader of the Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay.