(Quebec) Accused of monetizing access to his ministers, François Legault announces that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is immediately renouncing political donations, around one million dollars per year according to him. And “we are asking the other parties to do the same thing,” added the Prime Minister on Thursday.
François Legault made this decision following allegations concerning his party’s financing methods and the participation of ministers in partisan cocktails. “There is a perception, there are doubts currently,” he admitted, while saying that his party follows the rules.
“One thing that I am not capable of accepting is that my integrity and the integrity of my party, of our deputies, of our government are called into question. For me, that’s the most precious thing. So I am announcing to you that from now on, the CAQ will renounce private financing. As long as there is no agreement with the other parties, with the Chief Electoral Officer, there will be no more political donations to the CAQ,” he said. He asked the general director of his party, Brigitte Legault, to contact the Director General of Elections of Quebec to take the necessary measures so that the CAQ no longer receives contributions from voters.
The measure will be in force “until we perhaps find a solution” with the other parties to review the Electoral Act. He asks his opponents to follow suit. The Parti Québécois, leading in the polls, is the party that collects the most political donations.
In the House, the Prime Minister pointed out in broad strokes that PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggested the abolition of popular financing in his book Young people and the future of Quebec. The reveries of a solitary walkerpublished in 2009.
François Legault argues that the time has come to go further than lowering the donation ceiling to $100 adopted by Bernard Drainville under the Marois government, that we must “complete the work of René Lévesque” on sanitation. financing of political parties.
“We had to go a step further and say that, for existing parties,” funding must come 100% from the State. He mentioned that exceptions could be adopted for new political groups so as not to completely deprive them of funding.
“A political party that receives private donations, there can be an appearance that we feel obliged to listen more to these people,” he replied to summarize the problem he wants to tackle. “Private financing, that individuals come and give money to political parties even if it is just to encourage us, there will always be doubt about the intentions. »
The CAQ is “giving up a lot of money” – one million per year – and “will make do with the part of the funding” that comes from the Director General of Elections of Quebec, said Mr. Legault. His party is the one that receives the most money from the state since funding is largely based on the result in the last general election. We are talking about 6.4 million in 2022.
Donations represent 20 to 30% of political party funding annually. The rest of the funds come from the state.
Over the past few days, CAQ elected officials (Louis-Charles Thouin, Yves Montigny, Gilles Bélanger, Sylvain Lévesque and François Jacques) have been embarrassed by the publication of reports which revealed that citizens and mayors had been invited to make a $100 donation to the party fund by participating in a political fundraising activity, emphasizing that this allowed them to meet a minister.
The opposition parties denounced this way of doing things, seeing it as a “modus operandi” which contravenes ethics and which is akin to a way of monetizing access to a minister.
So far, two CAQ deputies, Mr. Thouin and Mr. Lévesque, are the subject of an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner on this subject.
“We discussed it at length in caucus yesterday (Wednesday). There are deputies who did not find it funny what they experienced in the last few days. I think that it is a reflection of all the CAQ deputies to come to the end of popular financing, maintained the Prime Minister.
François Legault clarified that his ministers will continue to participate in partisan activities without requiring a donation from participants.
Last week, François Legault said he wanted to avoid “distractions” during the parliamentary session which began Tuesday. He acknowledged at a press briefing that, for the moment, what emerged from the session in the public space did not relate to the priorities he had stated, such as health and education.
With Hugo Pilon-Larose, The Press