Inviting a minister to a fundraising activity “can help” attract participants, agrees CAQ MP Donald Martel. If this practice is legal, the Parti Québécois demands that it cease.
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According to PQ MP Pascal Bérubé, the CAQ currency “access to its ministers” to increase its collection of donations to its electoral kitty.
Several CAQ MPs have sent invitations to fundraising cocktail parties in their ridings, highlighting the presence of fellow ministers. To participate, interested people must pay between $125 and $200.
“You are invited to participate in a Joëlle Boutin fundraising dinner with the Minister of Labour, Mr. Jean Boulet. During this evening you will have the chance to discuss with the MNA and the Minister on various subjects”, can we read in particular in an invitation from the MNA for Jean-Talon.
Pascal Bérubé admits that this practice “is not illegal”, but it nevertheless places the ministers in a position of vulnerability. He calls for an amendment to the law on the financing of political parties to ban it.
Fitzgibbon in Bécancour
CAQ MP Donald Martel is organizing a fundraising activity in his riding of Bécancour in early May. For the occasion, he invited the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon.
“He comes to our house, we do a 5 to 7, there will be maybe an hour of presentation, after that, there will be an hour of open questions (for) people, if they have questions to ask, and then it’s over, ”he said on Wednesday, in a press scrum at the National Assembly.
Mr. Martel recognizes that the presence of a minister “can help” the popularity of the event. “We invite activists, people are used to hearing us bring someone, a colleague… here we are in government, but at the time, we were in the opposition, we also invited people “, he insists.
And which minister attracts the most? “All the ministers, and the prime minister probably it is he who attracts the most,” he replies.
Arrested in the corridors of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister defended himself from monetizing the influence with his government. “Our ministers are very accessible and we do nothing different from other political parties,” defended François Legault.
For Sonia Lebel, former chief prosecutor of the Charbonneau commission, the changes that raised the annual funding limit per person from $1,000 to $100 ($200 in an election year) are a game-changer.
“It’s an excellent law that responds to the issues that were raised by the Charbonneau commission,” said the one who is now President of the Treasury Board. “You have to put it in context. The idea is to protect against corruption, against undue influence,” she says. According to Sonia Lebel, “at $100, $200, you can’t buy…” an influence.
Contribution of employees
Former Caquiste deputy who became a Conservative, Claire Samson also revealed that the CAQ expects constituency employees to contribute to the election fund each year.
“The employees of the CAQ deputies are required to give their $200 to the party, otherwise they are deemed not to deserve their job,” says Ms. Samson. That shouldn’t be allowed either. »
The ex-caquiste specifies that the employees do not benefit from a refund.
She herself refused to demand such donations, she says. “But they were called by the party to say that they had to give their $200”, she testifies.
MP Martel “asked” his employees to contribute to the CAQ election fund, but “it is not an obligation, it is not a condition of employment”. “Nothing” happens to a person who chooses not to donate.