Pauline Marois defends the grantees of major health foundations — including the Desmarais family — whom she supported this week in a letter co-signed with five other former prime ministers. The process was done according to the rules of the art, she assures.
“That’s a question I asked, namely: ‘Is everything correct and in compliance with the law on lobbying?’ And I was told yes,” said M.me Marois, Saturday, at the entrance to the national council of the Parti Québécois, in Saint-Hyacinthe.
The former PQ elected official does not regret for a moment having put her signature at the bottom of the missive, which asked the current Minister of Health to revise his bill 15 to avoid the loss of “the legal entity and autonomy” of university hospitals and research institutes. In its current form, argued the six former prime ministers, PL15 would “have unfavorable effects” on philanthropic financing.
However, on Friday afternoon, Quebec’s lobbying commissioner, Jean-François Routhier, took up his pen to express doubts about the approach.
“The public nature of this letter gives it an aura of transparency. But is this really the case? “, he writes in a post published on the Commissioner’s website. “If a lobbyist had sent such a letter to the Minister of Health, he would have been required to comply with the disclosure requirements set out in the Act. »
“Shocked”
The approach was taken at the initiative of major foundations in the health sector, agreed Mr.me Marois, Saturday. But “I’m old enough, I have enough experience to be able to make my decisions,” she said.
THE Quebec Journal recalled this week that one of the institutions behind the letter, the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, is largely financed by the Desmarais family. The latter is well known for its opposition to the sovereignist project promoted by former Prime Minister Marois.
In interview with The duty Friday, Mme Marois had justified his choice to sign the letter despite everything. “You know, Quebec has been poor for a long time. We are starting to see what we call a Quebec Inc. appear, with a little more means and which is capable of contributing to its community through philanthropy,” she said.
“I was a little shocked to see that we wanted to condemn people because they have, yes, significant fortunes. They could also keep it for themselves, invest it elsewhere, but they decide to invest it in the Quebec community and to do it in high-quality institutions,” she continued.
Christian Dubé did not change his position this week, despite the letter from the former prime ministers. He reiterated this week that university hospitals and institutes must “work better together”.