The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, took the place of her colleague from the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, to authorize financial assistance of seven million dollars to a company with which he had links before launching in Politics.
Mayrand / Alimplus inc. obtained this sum as part of the Temporary Concerted Action Program for Businesses (PACTE), set up during the pandemic.
The PACTE provided that all loans or loan guarantees over five million had to be authorized by the Minister.
The Mayrand / Alimplus file, however, did not pass through Mr. Fitzgibbon, his press secretary said in an email on Tuesday.
“The file was authorized by the President of the Treasury Board”, wrote Mathieu St-Amand, without specifying why Mr.me LeBel took care of the clearance rather than Mr. Fitzgibbon.
It was not possible to know on what date Mme LeBel authorized the company’s file, which appears in a list of PACTE beneficiaries established on July 31.
The Auditor General, Guylaine Leclerc, tabled a report three weeks ago on the PACTE questioning Mr. Fitzgibbon’s discretionary power in the problematic allocation of loans or loan guarantees to ten companies, whose names have remained so far confidential.
Mme Leclerc noted elements that did not comply with the PACTE criteria in these ten files authorized by Mr. Fitzgibbon, who relied on an internal management guide that did not include any criteria.
Mr. St-Amand said Tuesday that financial assistance of seven million was paid to Mayrand / Alimplus following a request that meets the criteria of the assistance program.
“The file met all the standards of the PACTE program,” said Mr. St-Amand.
No more link
Earlier this year, the government adopted a decree by which Mr.me LeBel was responsible for handling requests from two companies related to Mr. Fitzgibbon, Immervision and White Star, to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
Mr. St-Amand explained Tuesday that, even if the decree did not mention it, Mayrand / Alimplus was still directed to Mr.me LeBel.
“This is the process determined with the executive,” he said without further details.
Mr. St-Amand assured that the minister no longer had any link with Mayrand / Alimplus, which is part of the portfolio of the Walter Capital investment company, of which Mr. Fitzgibbon was the managing partner.
“There is no longer any link between Walter Capital and Mr. Fitzgibbon since the summer of 2018” assured the spokesperson.
In his declaration of interests covering the year preceding his election, in October 2018, Mr. Fitzgibbon registered financial interests in Partenaires Walter Capital, which holds stakes in around ten companies.
“The investments related to Walter Capital were liquidated during the year 2019,” said Mr. St-Amand.
Mayrand / Alimplus, a food distribution company, has been in Walter Capital’s portfolio since 2017, according to information released by the company.
According to Mr. St-Amand, Mr. Fitzgibbon stopped participating in the management of Walter’s investment in Mayrand / Alimplus in the summer of 2018.