(Quebec) The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, believes that CAQ MP Sylvain Lévesque should be suspended from his duties as second vice-president of the National Assembly while the Ethics Commissioner conducts an investigation into it.
Commissioner Ariane Mignolet opened an investigation into Mr. Lévesque on Monday, following a request from solidarity MP Vincent Marissal.
Mr. Marissal claimed to have reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Lévesque had committed a breach of section 36 of the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Members of the National Assembly.
More specifically, he suspects Mr. Lévesque’s constituency office of having used an email address from the National Assembly to “promote the partisan fundraising activities of the Coalition Avenir Québec”.
In a press release published Tuesday morning, Mr. Duhaime maintained that Mr. Lévesque “no longer has the necessary impartiality and credibility to assume his functions as vice-president, as long as an investigation is opened regarding his actions. “partisans”, for which he should be suspended from this role.
Last week, Radio-Canada reported that an employee of the Chauveau office, the riding where Mr. Lévesque is a member of parliament, had offered to pay to meet a minister to a citizen who wanted to advance her file.
At the office of the chief government whip, we responded that “under no circumstances” was the CAQ asking citizens to participate in fundraising cocktails to be able to meet elected officials.
The Ethics Commissioner, however, ruled that there was cause for investigation.
In the last general election, in October 2022, Mr. Lévesque was elected with 46.84% of support in Chauveau, finishing ahead of Mr. Duhaime. The Conservative leader had obtained the favor of 31.84% of voters in this riding.